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THE WORLD'S 
GREAT CLASSICS 




Timothy Dwighx D.D. LLD. 
Richard Henry5toddard 
Arthvr Richmond Marsh. AB. 
Pay L VAN Dyke.D.D. 
Albert Ellery Bergh 



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• I LLV5TRATED • WITH • NEARLY TWO- 
-HVNDREDPHOTOCRAVVK.E5 • ETCH= 
•INGS COLORED-PLATES AND FVLL- 
•PAGE-PORTRAITS OF GREATAVTH0R5 

Clarence Cook • Art Editor 



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• NEW -YORK ^ MDCCCXCIX - 



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TIMOTHY niVIGHT, D.D., LL.D. 
{President of Yale University.) 
Photogravure from a photograph hy Pacb. 



GEORGE RAWLTNSON, M.A., F.R.GS. 

{Canon of Canterbury and Camden Professor of Ancient 
History at the University of Oxford.) 

Photogravure from a recent photograph. 





COMPRISING THE HISTORY OF 
CHALD.€A, ASSYRIA, MEDIA, BABYLONIA, LYDIA, 
PHCENICIA, SYRIA, JUD/€A, EGYPT, CARTHAGE, 
PERSIA, GREECE, MACEDONIA, PARTHIA, AND ROME 



GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., F.R.G.S. 

CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY AT UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 

REVISED EDITION 
WITH A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION BY 

WILLIAM F. MCDOWELL, S.T.D., Ph.D. 

CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 





FIFTHAV 






!^'^9>'^ 



K I / A A 



Copyright, J899, 
Bv THE COLONIAL PRESS. 

TWOCOiwiriS J^SCCUVEO 



i J' 



THE WORLD'S GREAT CLASSICS 



INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES. 

IN annotating the Biblical text, " of making many books 
there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the 
flesh," a fourteenth century commentator declared most 
positively that the only books which might be read without 
harmful results — are " the bokis of hooli scripture and other 
bokis that ben needful to the understanding of hooli scripture." 

Solomon and our mediaeval sage would scarcely have cause 
to reverse their opinion if they had to pass judgment on the 
bulk of modern publications. To-day superficiality and sensa- 
tion reign supreme, and the classics of literature are barely cir- 
culated. The classics are largely relegated to the shelves of 
public libraries, which are obviously only accessible to a small 
proportion of readers. 

There has been an eflfort, of late, to supply the reading public 
with various encyclopaedias of literature, which, so far as the 
literary selections are concerned, bring to mind the grumbler's 
comment on his dinner, " It's all very well as far as it goes, 
and there's a good deal of it, too, such as it is." These ency- 
clopaedias are in the nature of anthologies, and, while they may 
be very useful as literary scrap-books, they fail to satisfy those 
who wish to possess the classics in their entirety. 

The projectors of the present series of books have made it 
possible for readers to possess a carefully selected library of 
the World's Great Classics. The publishers of this series have 
no desire to pose as educational philanthropists. They claim, 
however, that the publication of these classics will certainly tend 
to increase the reading of the best books of all time. Carlyle 



iv THE WORLD'S GREAT CLASSICS 

said that a collection of books is a real university. In that sense 
the present Library ought to prove invaluable to those who wish 
to supplement a common school education with the perusal of 
what Lowell called the supreme books m literature. 

The art of printing has revolutionized the world. 1 he print- 
ing-press has proved far more potent than any other civilizing 
influence. Learning is no longer confined to the few. The 
literature of civilization is free to all. '' He that runs may read. 
The danger Ues in reading everything we run across, indis- 
criminate reading is seldom beneficial. 

While the printing-press has proved a potent power for good, 
it has also been used for ignominious purposes. In many quar- 
ters the first consideration in accepting an author's manuscript 
to-day is not whether it be a book that is worthy of pubhcation, 
but whether it be a book that is sufftciently sensational to make 
it sell There exists, however, a large and growmg class of 
readers who are not satisfied with these superficial books of 
the hour They crave for something more substantial than the 
sensational reading-matter offered them in " up-to-date " nov- 
els, decadent newspapers, and catch-penny magazmes ihe 
times are ripe for a revival of the fittest. On the inte lectual 
horizon of the twentieth century breaks the dawn of a literary 
renaissance. The workers of the world long for more light. 
Thev desire to have the gates of knowledge thrown wide open, 
recognizing instinctively that " knowledge is power, and that 
those who toil will ever be governed by those who think. 

In the early days of printing, the books to which the people 
had access were few and far between. To-day the world is 
flooded with books, good, bad, and indifferent. The question 
is no longer how can I obtain a printed book, but how am I to 
know what printed book to read? This is a most important 
question for those whose leisure for reading is limited ihe 
Library Committee of the present series have endeavored to an- 
swer that question in their selection of classics. The world, 
says Frederick Harrison, in his scholarly essay on the choice 
of books, " has long ago closed the great assize of letters and 
iudo-ed the first places everywhere. In such a matter the judg- 
ment of the world, guided and informed by a long succession 
of accomplished critics, is almost unerring. There may be 



INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES v 

doubts about the third and the fourth rank, but the first and 
second are hardly open to discussion." 

The books of the present Library all come under the head of 
classics — books conforming to the best authority in literature 
— books of acknowledged excellence. Read them ! There is 
nothing except human love from which you can derive greater 
happiness, than the love of reading. Books prove companions 
in sorrow and solitude. They assuage the pangs of physical 
pain. They enable you to commune with all the master minds 
of by-gone ages. The light of intellect flashes across the 
printed page. The recorded thoughts of literature live on for- 
ever. Books are the " legacies of genius." We are all heirs to 
the magic realm of fancy, the republic of letters, the glorious 
domain of immortal thought. The pyramids of Nubia and 
Egypt, the palaces and sculptured slabs of Nineveh, the Cyclo- 
pean walls of Italy and Greece, the temples of India — none have 
escaped the ravages of Time. The beautiful statues of an- 
tiquity, the Venus of Melos, the sculptures of the Parthenon, 
will sooner or later vanish from the face of earth. But the 
poetry of Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare, the philosophy of 
Plato and Aristotle, the wisdom of Solomon and Socrates, the 
eloquence of Demosthenes and Cicero will last as long as 
Earth itself. The material creations of art crumble to dust. 
Soul-stirring thoughts, the creations of intellect, alone survive. 

" To be without books," exclaims Ruskin, " is the abyss of 
penury; don't endure it." Books that we own after awhile 
become actual companions. " He that loveth a book," says 
Isaac Barrow, " will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome 
counsellor, a cheerful companion or effectual comforter. By 
study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and 
pleasantly entertain himself as in all weathers, so in all fortune." 

The present Library covers a wide field. The first ten vol- 
umes comprise the historical books that have been crowned as 
classics by the consensus of critical opinion. The authors of 
these historical volumes are Rawlinson, Hallam, Michelet, 
Green, Guizot, Carlyle, and Creasy. The succeeding volumes 
are devoted to the various other departments of literature. Sci- . 
ence. Philosophy, Law, Political Economy, Essays and Ora- 
tions, Biography, Travel, Natural History, Poetry and the 



vi THE WORLD'S GREAT CLASSICS 

Drama, Ethics, Folk-lore, English and Oriental Literature, are 
all represented by authors of world-wide renown. The authors 
selected include only the master minds of ancient and modern 
times. 

The art features — comprising photogravures from famous 
paintings, portraits of authors, fac-similc illuminations of 
mediaeval books and manuscripts, choice examples of early 
printing and engraving, and numerous other illustrations — 
have been carefully selected under the supervision of the Art 
Editor, Clarence Cook. 

On the Library Committee are such competent judges of 
good books as Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale Uni- 
versity ; Richard Henry Stoddard, poet and literary critic ; Dr. 
Paul van Dyke, of Princeton, and Prof. Arthur Richmond 
Marsh, of Harvard. Each of the classics selected has a special 
introduction by a writer fully qualified to give a critical analysis 
of the work in question. Every available device in the art 
of book-making has been brought into service to make these 
volumes attractive, and the type, paper, and binding are of ex- 
cellent quality. 

The present Library is in the nature of a "University Exten- 
sion," for it aims to provide a fuller and broader intellectual life 
rather than any technical perfection. The trend of the times 
is towards mental culture. Wage workers are hungering for 
something beyond their material wants. In the " World's 
Great Classics " the intellectual pleasures and luxuries of life 
are placed within the reach of almost eviery home where the 
love of reading prevails. The Publishers have provided a feast 
with the " Immortals." The flow of soul comes from the 
authors of all ages. Let the toast be what Alfonso, King of 
Aragon, was wont to say were the four best things of life : " Old 
wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to converse 
with I Old books to read ! " Sic itur ad astra. 

Albert Ellery Bergh. 



SPECIAL INTRODUCTION 



THE author of this volume is one of the many notable ex- 
amples of scholarship in the English clergy. He is best 
known as Canon Rawlinson. One of his most widely 
read papers was his " Present Day Tract " on the " Early 
Prevalence of Monotheistic Belief." He supplied the com- 
ments on numerous books of the Old Testament to " The 
Speaker's Commentary " and the excellence of his work made 
him a favorite with many students. 

George Rawlinson was born in 1815 in Oxfordshire, Eng- 
land, being five years younger than his brother. Sir Henry Cres- 
wicke Rawlinson, D.C.L., the Orientalist and diplomat. Both 
were educated at Ealing School, the former graduating from 
Oxford with classical honors in 1838. He became a fellow of 
Exeter College in 1840, Bampton Lecturer in 1859, Camden 
Professor of Ancient History at Oxford in 1861, holding that 
office until 1889, when he resigned. In 1872 he was appointed 
Canon of Canterbury Cathedral. The mere titles of his books 
indicate what a prodigious worker he has been. His industry 
is amazing and his achievements surprising even for a life un- 
usually long. In addition to his manual of " Ancient History," 
he has written the following historical works : " The Five Great 
Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World," " The Sixth Great 
Oriental Monarchy, or the Geography, History, and Antiquities 
of Parthia," " The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, or the 
Geography, History and Antiquities of the Sassanian or New 
Persian Empire," " History of Ancient Egypt," " Religions of 
the Ancient World," " Egypt and Babylon," a history of 
" Phoenicia," and in connection with his brother and Sir Gard- 
ner Wilkinson, a translation of Herodotus with extensive notes 
and illustrations. His Bampton lectures in 1859 were upon 



viii RAWLINSON 

"The Historical Evidence of the Truth of the Scripture 
Records." In addition to all this Canon Rawlinson has written 
much in the shape of special articles for such works as Smith's 
" Bible Dictionary " and the magazines. He wrote the article 
on Herodotus in the ninth edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britan- 
nica," and in 1893 he wrote the volume on " Parthia " in " The 
Story of the Nations " series. He held the office of Classical 
E?caminer under the Council of Military Education from 1859 — 
1870, and has been Proctor in Convocation for the Dean and 
Chapter of Canterbury since 1873. 

His manual of " Ancient History " is professedly intended to 
take the place of Heeren's " Handbuch." Readers of Herodotus 
are charmed by that garrulous and entertaining old story-teller, 
" the father of history." But Herodotus did not err on the 
critical side. He was interested in everything he heard. He 
was not a scientific annalist coldly sifting evidence, though he 
was not blindly credulous. Nevertheless he admitted many 
things, wisely so, on rather slender evidence. Harrison says 
that the reader of Herodotus needs such a manual as Heeren's, 
and Rawlinson's manual, on the same plan, now takes its place 
It covers the same ground and in much the same fashion. Raw- 
linson writing later, has, of course, corrected many statements, 
revised many judgments, and has carefully embodied the dis- 
coveries and researches of the present century. This adds the 
labor of at least three most active and fruitful generations to 
Heeren's great work. Rawlinson's manual is not intended to be 
a popular treatise for light reading. Its preparation was not the 
idle pastime of an idle day. Its author was a student, patiently 
investigating details, and bringing a perfect mass of them before 
the reader. 

This manual is most valuable for the general reader and the 
right kind of students. Its bibliography alone would make it 
a great work. There is probably no better list of authorities on 
the period and nations covered. And one can forgive the text 
for lacking the rhetorical embellishments which characterize 
certain histories in view of Canon Rawlinson's painstaking facts 
presented in such abundance. At a time when history is tend- 



SPECIAL INTRODUCTION. ix 

ing to become scientific in the larger sense, our debt to the fact- 
gatherer is immense. Philosophy, Literature, and Art are all 
dependent upon him. And at a time when men's interest in 
ancient history is experiencing a revival like the quickened de- 
votion to child study, the republication of this manual appears 
most timely. Ancient History is a vital part of Modern History. 
" The past is only the present in a less developed form." Divi- 
sions between Ancient and Modern History are purely arbitrary. 
Ancient History occurred in a part of the world far distant 
from us. For long ages it continued distant, but the modern 
Western nations have a keen and vital interest in the far Eastern 
world to-day. Asia and Africa, subjects of Book I. in this 
manual, never were so close to England and America as at pres- 
ent. The distant in space has been brought near. The ancient 
is made recent by such studies as this. Dr. Charles Kendall 
Adams, President of the University of Wisconsin, and a noted 
historical critic, says in his manual of " Historical Literature " 
that " as a guide to a student in the thorough study of Ancient 
History, Rawlinson's manual has no equal in our language." 

William F. McDowell. 



RAWLINSON'S PREFACE 

THE work here given to the public has been contem- 
plated by the author for several years. The " Hand- 
buch " of Professor Heeren, originally published 
in 1799, and corrected by its writer up to the year 1828, 
is, so far as he knows, the only modern work of reputa- 
tion treating in a compendious form the subject of An- 
cient History generally. Partial works, i.e., works embracing 
portions of the field, have been put forth more recently, as, 
particularly, the important " Manuel " of M. Lenormant 
(Manuel d'histoire ancienne de I'Orient jusqu'aux guerrcs Me- 
diqiies. Paris, 1868 — 69 ; 3 vols. i2mo.) But no work with the 
scope and on the scale of Professor Heeren's has, so far as the 
present writer is aware, made its appearance since 1828. That 
work itself, in its English dress, is, he believes, out of print; 
and it is one, so great a portion of which has become antiquated 
by the progress of historical criticism and discovery, that it can 
not now be recommended to the student, unless with large re- 
serves and numerous cautions. Under these circumstances, it 
seemed to the present writer desirable to replace the " Hand- 
buch " of Heeren by a manual conceived on the same scale, ex- 
tending over the same period, and treating (in the main) of the 
same nations. 

Heeren's Hand-book always appeared to him admirable in 
design, and, considering the period at v;hich it was written, ex- 
cellent in execution. He has been content to adopt, generally, 
its scheme and divisions; merely seeking in every case to bring 
the history up to the level of our present advanced knowledge, 
and to embody in his work all the really ascertained results of 
modern research and discovery. He has not suffered himself 
to be tempted by the example of M. Lenormant to include in the 



jjji RAWLINSON 

manual an account of the Arabians or the Indians; ='n« h^ ha^ 
not been able to convince himself that either *<= "a' « tradi- 
"ions of the former, as reported by Abulfcda, ^bn-KhMo.n 
and others, or the epic poems of the latter (the Ma/,a Bharata 
and Ramayam), are trustworthy sources of history. With 
more hesitation he has decided on not including m his present 
work the history of the Sassanida:, which is sufficiently authen- 
tic, and which in part runs parallel with a Pe-d that the manu 1 
embraces. But, on the whole, it appeared to him '1 =>' 1^-= f^^ 
sanida; belonged as much to Modern as to Ancient H^ry 
to the Byzantine as to the Roman period. And, m a doubtful 
case the demands of brevity, which he felt to be imperative m 
such a work as a manual, seemed entitled to turn the scale. 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION. 

History.— History Proper, its divisions.— Ancient History, how best 
distinguished from Modern.— Sources of History: i. Antiquities; 
2. Written Records, including (a) Inscriptions, (b) Books.— Im- 
portance of Inscriptions.— Coins.— Books, ancient and modern.— 
Cognate sciences to History: i. Chronology; 2. Geography.— 
Chief eras.— Chronological Monuments.— Works on Chronology. 
—Works on Geography.— Modes of dividing Ancient History.— 
Scheme of the Work 



PAGE 



BOOK I. 

History of the Ancient Asiatic and African States and Kingdoms 
from the Earliest Times to the Foundation of the Persian Monar- 
chy by Cyrus the Great 15 

PART I. — Asiatic Nations. 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Asia 15 

Preliminary Observations on the General Character of the Early 

Asiatic Kingdoms 21; 

History of the Ancient Asiatic Kingdoms previous to Cyrus 28 

I. Chaldasan Monarchy " 28 

II. Assyrian Monarchy .'.',',*,'.' lo 

III. Median Monarchy '..'..".,"..*'..*'..'!,"..'*..'!,'*. .* 32 

IV. Babylonian Monarchy * ' ' ' ' -. 

V. Kingdoms in Asia Minor: i. Phrygia; 2. Cilicia; 3. Lydia.* 35 

VI. Phoenicia ,_ 

VII. Syria f. 

VIII. Judaea i ""! "'"!!"!!!!!!!!!!!"!!!!!! ! 41 

a. From the Exodus to the Establishment of the Mon- 

archy 42 

b. From the Establishment of the Monarchy to the Separa- 

tion into two Kingdoms 43 

c. From the Separation of the Kingdoms to the Captivity 

under Nebuchadnezzar 45 

xiii 



xiv RAWLINSON 

PART II.— African Nations. page 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Ancient Africa 49 

Historical Sketch of the Ancient African States Si 

I. Egypt 54 

II. Carthage ^5 

a. From the Foundation of the City to the Commencement 

of the Wars with Syracuse. 65 

b. From the Commencement of the Wars with Syracuse 

to the Breaking-out of the First War with Rome 71 



BOOK II. 

History of Persia from the Accession of Cyrus to the Destruction of 
the Empire by Alexander the Great 77 



BOOK III. 

History of the Grecian States from the Earliest Times to the Acces- 
sion of Alexander the Great 97 

Geographical Outline of Greece 97 

FIRST PERIOD. 
The Ancient Traditional History, from the Earliest Times to the 
Dorian Occupation of the Peloponnese I09 

SECOND PERIOD. 
History of Greece from the Dorian Conquest of the Peloponnese to 

the Commencement of the Wars with Persia II4 

Part I. History of the principal Hellenic States in Greece Proper. . 114 

I. Sparta "7 

II. Athens ^^o 

Part II. History of the other Grecian States 123 

I. In the Peloponnese: 

a. Achsea ^^^ 

b. Arcadia ^24 

c. Corinth ^'^^ 

d. Elis ^26 

e. Sicyon 126 

II. In Central Greece: 

a. Megaris ^^7 

b. Boeotia ^^^ 

c. Phocis ^29 

d. Locris ^^ 

e. ^tolia ^30 

f. Acarnania ^-^ 



CONTENTS XV 

III. In Northern Greece: p^gk 

a. Thessaly j^i 

b. Epirus i^2 

IV. In the Islands: • 

a. Corcyra j-,^ 

b. Cephallenia 1-73 

c. Zacynthus i o^ 

d. ^gina j-j, 

e. Eubcea j ,4 

f. The Cyclades 134 

g. Lemnos 134 

It. Thasos 13^ 

i. Crete J35 

;. Cyprus 137 

V. Greek Colonies 138 

THIRD PERIOD. 
History of Greece from the Commencement of the Wars with 

Persia to the Battle of Chaeroneia 140 



BOOK IV. 

History of the Macedonian Monarchy 163 

Geographical Outline of Macedonia 163 

Historical Sketch of the Monarchy: 

FIRST PERIOD. 
From the Commencement of the Monarchy to the Death of Alexan- 
der the Great 164 

SECOND PERIOD. 
From the Death of Alexander the Great to the Battle of Ipsus 176 

THIRD PERIOD. 
History of the States into which the Macedonian Monarchy was 

broken up after the Battle of Ipsus 183 

Part I. History of the Syrian Kingdom of the Seleucidae 183 

Part II. History of the Egyptian Kingdom of the Ptolemies 194 

Part III. History of Macedonia, and of Greece, from the Death of 

Alexander to the Roman Conquest 210 

Part IV. History of the Smaller States and Kingdoms formed out 

of the Fragments of Alexander's Monarchy 229 

I. Kingdom of Pergamus 230 

II. Kingdom of Bithynia 234 

III. Kingdom of Paphlagonia 238 

IV. Kingdom of Pontus 239 

V. Kingdom of Cappadocia 245 



RAWLINSON 



PAGE 



VI. Kingdom of Greater Armenia 249 

VII. Kingdom of Armenia Minor 251 

VIII. Kingdom of Bactria 252 

IX. Kingdom of Parthia 254 

X. Kingdom of Judsea 255 

a. From the Captivity to the Fall of the Persian Em- 

pire ^^5 

b. From the Fall of the Persian Empire to the Re- 

establishment of an Independent Kingdom .... 258 

c. From the Re-establishment of an Independent King- 

dom to the Full Establishment of the Power of 
Rome 260 

d. From the Full Establishment of Roman Power to 

the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus 261 



BOOK V. 

PART I.~HisTORY OF Rome. 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geography of Ancient Italy 267 

Sketch of the History of Rome: 

FIRST PERIOD. 
The Ancient Traditional History from the Earliest Times to the 
Commencement of the Republic 281 

SECOND PERIOD. 
From the Foundation of the Republic to the Commencement of 

the Samnite Wars ^90 

THIRD PERIOD. 
From the Breaking out of the First Samnite War to the Commence- 
ment of the Wars with Carthage 2^7 

FOURTH PERIOD. 
From the Commencement of the First War with Carthage to the 
Rise of the Civil Broils under the Gracchi 327 

FIFTH PERIOD. 
From the Commencement of Internal Troubles under the Gracchi ^5 / 
to the Establishment of the Empire under Augustus 351 

SIXTH PERIOD. 
From the Establishment of the Empire under Augustus to the 

Destruction of the Roman Power in the West by Odoacer. .. .. . 3»4 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geographical Extent and Prmcipal 

Divisions of the Roman Empire 384 



CONTENTS xvii 

Historical Sketch of the Roman Empire: page 

First Section. From the Battle of Actium to the Death of Corn- 
modus ■ 397 

Second Section. From the Death of Commodus to the Acces- 
sion of Diocletian 427 

Third Section. From the Accession of Diocletian to the Final 
Division of the Empire 442 

Fourth Section. History of the Western Empire from the Ac- 
cession of Honorius, a.d. 395, to the Deposition of Romulus Au- 
gustus, A.D. 476 462 

PART n. — History of Parthia. 

Geographical Outline of the Parthian Empire 472 

Sketch of the History of Parthia: 

FIRST PERIOD. 
From the Foundation of the Kingdom by Arsaces to the Estab- 
lishment of the Empire by Mithridates 1 476 

SECOND PERIOD. 
From the Establishment of the Empire by Mithridates I. to the 
Commencement of the Wars with Rome 479 

THIRD PERIOD. 
From the Commencement of the Wars with Rome to the De- 
struction of the Empire by Artaxerxes 484 



CHOICE EXAMPLES OF BOOK ILLUMINATION. 

Facsimiles trimi IlluminateJ Manuscripts and Illustrated Book^ 
of Earlv Date. 



MJMATURE OF THE ANXUXCIATION. 

Irom the Condf Livrc d' Hemes, written in France about 1490- 

1 h,. Ha.e ,s an .-Ncdlent specmen ul Frcncl, work. Ibe chief miniaiure is an 
Annuncin.ion, which seems to be taking place in - P'-i-'^^^;^^-^';^'"'^^ j.^^ 
borders look like sections of a Gothic church, with nuhes and fretwork, and the 
rolnmns which yield compartments for smaller niiniutnrrs 




\ f f ''^' 



^itmtnmmvm 




fci. 1%M 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



1/ 



George Rawlinson, Canon of Canterbury 

Photogravure from a photograph 

Timothy Dwight, D.D., LL.D. (Portrait) . 
Photogravure from a photograph 

Miniature of the Annunciation 

Fac-simile Illumination from the Conde Livre d'Heures 



Helen of Troy 

Photogravure from a painting 

Mental Education of a Greek Youth . 

Photogravure from a painting 

TuLLiA Driving Over Her Father's Corpse 

Photogravure from a painting 



FACING PAGE 

Frontispiece 



Vll 



96 



266 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



INTRODUCTION 

The word " History," which etymologically means " in- 
quiry " or " research," and which has many slightly differing 
uses, is attached in modern parlance pre-eminently and espe- 
cially to accounts of the rise, progress, and affairs of Nations. 
The consideration of man, prior to the formation of political 
communities and apart from them, belongs to Natural History 
— and especially to that branch of it which is called Anthro- 
pology — but not to History Proper. History Proper is the his- 
tory of States or Nations, both in respect to their internal af- 
fairs and in regard to their dealings one with another. Under 
the former head, one of the most important branches is Consti- 
tutional History, or the history of Governments; under the 
latter are included not only accounts of the wars, but likewise 
of the friendly relations of the different States, and of their com- 
mercial or other intercourse. 

Anthropology, though not History Proper, is akin to it, and is a 
science of which the historical student should not be ignorant. It treats 
of man prior to the time when history takes him up, and thus forms, 
in some sort, the basis on which history rests. The original condition 
of man, his primary habitat or place of abode, the mode and time of 
his dispersion; the questions of the formation of races, of their differ- 
ences, and of their affinities: these, and similar subjects, which belong 
properly to anthropology, are of interest to the historian, and underlie 
his proper field. The most important works bearing on these matters 
are: 

" The Book of Genesis " — the only extant work which claims to give 

an authoritative account of the creation and dispersion of mankind, and 

which is universally admitted to contain most interesting notices of the 

primitive condition of the human race, and of important facts belonging 

I 



2 RAWLINSON 

to very remote times. Kalisch's " Historical and Critical Commen- 
tary," London, Longman, 1855, contains a mass of valuable, though 
not always quite sober, illustration from the best modern sources. 

" The Physical History of Mankind," by Dr. Prichard, London, 3d 
edition, 1836 — a work of great grasp and power, elaborately illustrated, 
and in many respects of enduring value; but in some points behind 
the existing state of our knowledge. Not, however, at present super- 
seded by any general work. 

" Prehistoric Man," by Sir John Lubbock. London, 1866. This 
book is based mainly on recent researches into the earliest vestiges 
of man upon the earth, as those believed to have been found under- 
neath the floors of caves, in ancient gravel deposits, in the soil at the 
bottom of lakes, in the so-called " kitchen-middings," and the like. 
It is well illustrated. 

History Proper is usually divided either into two or into 
three portions. If the triple division is adopted, the portions 
are called, respectively, " Ancient History," the " History of 
the Middle Ages," and " Modern History." If the twofold 
division is preferred, the middle portion is suppressed, and His- 
tory is regarded as falling under the two heads of " Ancient " 
and " Modern." 

" Ancient " History is improperly separated from " Modern " 
by the arbitrary assumption of a particular date. A truer, 
better, and more convenient division may be made by regard- 
ing as ancient all that belongs to a state of things which has 
completely passed away, and as modern all that connects itself 
inseparably with the present. In Western Europe the irrup- 
tion of the Northern Barbarians, in Eastern Europe, in Asia, 
and in Africa, the Mohammedan conquests form the line of 
demarcation between the two portions of the historic field ; 
since these events brought to a close the old condition of things 
and introduced the condition which continues to the present 
day. 

The Sources of History fall under the two heads of written 
records, and antiquities, or the actual extant remains of ancient 
times, whether buildings, excavations, sculptures, pictures, 
vases, or other productions of art. These antiquities exist either 
in the countries anciently inhabited by the several nations, 
where they may be seen in situ; or in museums, to which they 
have been removed by the moderns, partly for their better 
preservation, partly for the purposes of general study and com- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 3 

parison; or, finally, in private collections, where they are for 
the most part inaccessible, and subserve the vanity of the 
collectors. 

No general attempt has ever been made to collect into one work 
a description or representation of all these various remains; and, in- 
deed, their multiplicity is so great that such a collection is barely con- 
ceivable. Works, however, on limited portions of the great field of 
"Antiquities" are numerous; and frequent mention will have to be 
made of them in speaking of the sources for the history of different 
states and periods. Here those only will be noticed which have some- 
thing of a general character. 

Oberlin, " Orbis antiqui monumentis suis illustrati primae linese." 
Argentorati, 1790. Extremely defective, but remarkable, considering 
the time at which it was written. 

Caylus, " Recueil d'Antiquites Egyptiennes, Etrusques, Grecques et 
Romaines." Paris, 1752-67. Full of interest, but with engravings of 
a very rude and primitive character. 

Montfaucon, " L'Antiquite expliquee et representee en figures." 
Paris, 1719-24; IS vols., folio. 

Smith, Dr. W., " Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities." 
London, 2d edition, 1853. 

Fergusson, James, " History of Architecture in all Countries, from 
the Earliest Times to the Present Day." London, 1865-67. 

Birch, Samuel, " Ancient Pottery." London, 1858. 

The second source of Ancient History, written records, is 
at once more copious and more important than the other. It 
consists of two main classes of documents — (i) Inscriptions on 
public monuments, generally contemporary with the events re- 
corded in them ; and (2) Books, the works of ancient or modern 
writers on the subject. 

Whether Inscriptions were, or were not, the most ancient 
kind of written memorial is a point that can never be deter- 
mined. What is certain is, that the nations of antiquity made 
use to a very large extent of this mode of commemorating 
events. In Egypt, in Assyria, in Babylonia, in Armenia, in 
Persia, In Phoenicia, In Lycia, In Greece, in Italy, historical 
events of Importance were from time to time recorded in this 
way — sometimes on the natural rock, which was commonly 
smoothed for the purpose; sometimes on obelisks or pillars; 
frequently upon the walls of temples, palaces, and tombs; oc- 
casionally upon metal plates, or upon tablets and cylinders of 
fine clay — hard and durable materials all of them, capable of 



4 RAWLINSON 

lasting hundreds or even thousands of years, and in many cases 
continuing to the present day. The practice prevailed, as it 
seems, most widely in Assyria and in Egypt; it was also in 
considerable favor in Persia and among the Greeks and Ro- 
mans. The other nations used it more sparingly. It was said 
about half a century ago that " of the great mass of inscriptions 
still extant, but few comparatively are of any importance as 
regards history." But this statement, if true when it was made, 
which may be doubted, at any rate requires modification now. 
The histories of Egypt and Assyria have been in a great meas- 
ure reconstructed from the inscriptions of the two countries. 
The great inscription of Behistun has thrown much light upon 
the early history of Persia. That on the Delphic tripod has 
illustrated the most glorious period of Greece. It is now gen- 
erally felt that inscriptions are among the most important of 
ancient records, and that their intrinsic value makes up to a 
great extent for their comparative scantiness. 

General collections of ancient inscriptions do not as yet exist. But 
the following, which have more or less of a general character, may 
be here mentioned: 

Muratori, Lud. Ant., " Novus Thesaurus Veterum Inscriptionum." 
Mediolani, 1739, etc. Together with Donati, " Supplementa." 
Luccae, 1764. 

Gruter, " Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani," cura J. G. 
Grsevii. Amstel. 1707; 4 vols., folio. 

Pococke, R., " Inscriptionum antiquarum Grsecarum et Latinarum 
liber." Londini, 1752; folio. 

Chandler, R., " Inscriptiones antiquae plerasque nondum edits." Ox- 
onii, 1774; folio. 

Osann, Fr., " Sylloge Inscriptionum antiquarum Graecarum et Lat- 
inarum." Lipsia;, 1834; folio. 

A large number of cuneiform inscriptions, Assyrian, Babylonian, 
and Persian, will be found in the " Expedition Scientifique en Meso- 
potamie " of M. Jules Oppert. Paris, 1858. The Persian, Babylonian, 
and Scythian or Turanian transcripts of the great Behistun Inscription 
are contained in the " Journal of the Asiatic Society," vols, x., xiv., and 
XV., to which they were contributed by Sir H. Rawlinson and Mr. 
Norris. A small but valuable collection of inscriptions, chiefly cunei- 
form, is appended to Mr. Rich's " Narrative of a Journey from Bussora 
to Persepolis." London, 1839. 

Under the head of Inscribed Monuments must be included 
Coins, which have in most instances a legend, or legends, and 



ANCIENT HISTORY 5 

which often throw considerable light upon obscure points of 
history. The importance of coins is no doubt the greatest in 
those portions of ancient history where the information de- 
rivable from authors — especially from contemporary authors — 
is the scantiest; their use, however, is not limited to such por- 
tions, but extends over as much of the historical field as admits 
of numismatic illustration. 

Collections of ancient coins exist in most museums and in many 
libraries. The collection of the British Museum is among the best in 
the world. The Bodleian Library has a good collection; and there 
is one in the library of Christ Church, Oxford, possessing many points 
of interest. In default of access to a good collection, or in further 
prosecution of numismatic study, the learner may consult the following 
comprehensive works: 

Spanheim, " Dissertatio de usu et praestantia Numismatum." Lon- 
don and Amsterdam, 1706-17; 2 vols., folio. 

Eckhel, " De Doctrina Nummorum Veterum." Vindebonae, 1792-98; 
8 vols., 4to. 

Mionnet, " Description des Medailles." Paris, 1806-37; 16 vols., 
8vo, copiously illustrated. 

Humphreys, " Ancient Coins and Medals." London, 1850. In this 
work, by means of embossed plates, fac-similes of the obverse and re- 
verse of many coins are produced. 

Leake, " Numismata Hellenica." London, 1854. 

Works upon coins, embracing comparatively narrow fields, are nu- 
merous, and often specially valuable. Many such works will be no- 
ticed among the sources for the history of particular times and nations. 

The " Books " from which ancient history may be learned 
are of two kinds — Ancient and Modern. Ancient works 
which treat the subject in a general way are neither numerous 
nor (with one exception) very valuable. The chief of those 
now extant are: 

Diodorus Siculus, " Bibliotheca Historica," in forty books, of which 
only books i.-v. incl. and xi.-xx. incl. have come down to us entire. 
The best editions are those of Wesseling (Bipont. 1793-1800; 10 vols., 
8vo) and Dindorf (Parisiis, 1843-44; 2 vols., 8vo). This work was a 
universal history from the earliest times down to B.C. 60. 

Polybius, " Historiae," likewise in forty books, of which the first five 
only are complete. Originally, a universal history of the period com- 
mencing B.C. 220 and terminating B.C. 146. Bad in style, but excellent 
in criticism and accuracy. The best edition is Schweighaeuser's (Lips. 



6 RAWLINSQN 

1789 et seqq. ; 8 vols., 8vo. Reprinted at Oxford, 1823, together with 
the same scholar's " Lexicon Polybianum," in 5 vols., Bvo). A good 
edition of the mere text has been published by Didot, Paris, 1859. 

Justinus, " Histori?e Philippicoe," in forty-four books, extracted, or 
rather abbreviated, from Trogus Pompeius, a writer of the Augustan 
age. This is a universal history from the earliest times to Augustus 
Caesar. It is a short work, and consequently very slight and sketchy. 
Of recent editions, the best is that of Duebner (Lips. 1831). The best 
of the old editions is that of Strasburg, 1802, Bvo. 

Zonaras, " Chronicon sive Annales," in twelve books. A universal 
history, extending from the Creation to the death of the Emperor 
Maximin, a.d. 238. Greatly wanting in criticism. The best edition is 
that in the " Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinas." Bonnas, 
1841-44. 

Besides these, there remain fragments from the universal history of 
Nicolaus Damascenus (" Fragm. Hist. Grgec," Vol. IIL, ed. C. Miiller, 
Parisiis, 1849), which are of very considerable value. 

Modern works embracing the whole range of ancient his- 
tory are numerous and important. They may be divided into 
two classes: Works on Universal History, of which Ancient 
History forms only a part; Works exclusively devoted to An- 
cient History. 

To the first class belong: 

" The Universal History, Ancient and Modern," with maps and ad- 
ditions. London, 1736-44; 7 vols., folio. Reprinted in Bvo and 64 
vols., London, 1747-66; again, in 60 vols., with omissions and additions. 

Raleigh, Sir W., " History of the World," in his " Works." Oxford, 
Clarendon Press, 1829; 8 vols., Bvo. 

Bossuet, " Discours sur I'Histoire Universelle." Paris, 1681; 4to. 
(Translated into English by Rich. Spencer. London, 1730; Bvo.) 

Millot, " Elemens de I'Histoire Generale." Paris, 1772 et seqq. Re- 
printed at Edinburgh, 1823; 6 vols., Bvo. (Translated into English, 
1778; 2 vols., Bvo.) 

Eichhorn, " Weltgeschichte." Leipsic, 1799-1820; 5 vols., Bvo. 

Keightley, Th., " Outlines of History," Bvo, being vol. ix. of Lard- 
ner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia." London, 1B35 et seqq. A convenient 
abridgment. 

Tytler and Nares, " Elements of General History." London, 1825. 
" Owes its reputation and success to the want of a better work on the 
subject." 

Under the second head may be mentioned: 

Niebuhr, B. G., " Vortrage iiber alte Geschichte." Berlin, 1847; 3 
vols., Bvo. Edited after his death by his son, Marcus Niebuhr. (Trans- 
lated into English by Dr. Leonard Schmitz, with additions and cor- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 7 

rections. London, 1852; 3 vols., 8vo.) A work of the highest value, 
embodying all the results of modern discovery up to about the year 1830. 

Schlosser, " Universal-historische Uebersicht der Geschichte der 
alten Welt." Frankfort, 1826; 3 vols., 8vo. 

Bredow, " Handbuch der alte Geschichte." Altona, 1799; 8vo. 
(Translated into English. London, 1827; 8vo.) 

Smith, Philip, " An Ancient History from the Earliest Records to 
the Fall of the Western Empire." London, 1865; 3 vols., 8vo. Em- 
bodies the latest results of modern discovery. 

Heeren, " Ideen iiber die Folitik, den Verkehr, und den Handel der 
vornehmsten Volker der alten Welt " ; 4th edition. Gottingen, 1824. 
(Translated into English. Oxford, 1833 et seqq. ; 5 vols., 8vo.) A 
work which, so far as the commerce of the ancients is concerned, has 
not been superseded. 

A few modern works of a less comprehensive character than 
those hitherto described, but still belonging rather to general 
than to particular history, seem also to deserve mention here. 
Such are : 

Rollin, " Histoire Ancienne des Egyptiens, des Carthaginiens, des 
Assyriens, des Medes et des Perses, des Macedoniens, et des Grecs." 
Paris, 1824; 12 vols., 8vo, revue par Letronne. "The last and best 
edition." (Translated into English. London, 1768; 7 vols., 8vo.) The 
earlier portion of this work is now antiquated, and must be replaced 
by writers who have had the advantage of recent discoveries. 

Rawlinson, G., " The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern 
World, or the History, Geography, and Antiquities of Chaldasa, As- 
syria, Babylonia, Media, and Persia." London, 1862-67; 4 vols., 8vo. 
With numerous illustrations. 

The fact that all historical events must occur at a certain 
time and in a certain place attaches to History two branches 
of knowledge as indispensable atixiliaries ; viz., Chronology 
and Geography. By the universal historian these sciences 
should be known completely: and a fair knowledge of them 
ought to be acquired by every historical student. A fixed 
mode of computing time, and an exact or approximate reckon- 
ing of the period occupied by the events narrated, is essential 
to every methodized history; nor can any history be regarded 
as complete without a more or less elaborate description of 
the countries which were the theatres of the events recorded 
in it. 

Exact Chronology is difficult, and a synchronistic view of 



8 RAWLINSON 

history generally is impossible without the adoption of an era. 
Nations accordingly, as the desire of exactness or the wish to 
synchronize arose, invented eras for themselves, which gen- 
erally remained in use for many hundreds of years. The earliest 
known instance of the formal assumption of a fixed point in 
time from which to date events belongs to the history of Baby- 
lon, where the era of Nabonassar, B.C. 747, appears to have 
been practically in use from that year. The era of the founda- 
tion of Rome, B.C. 752 (according to the best authorities), 
was certainly not adopted by the Romans till after the expulsion 
of the kings; nor did that of the Olympiads, B.C. 776, become 
current in Greece until the time of Timseus (about B.C. 300). 
The Asiatic Greeks, soon after the death of Alexander, adopted 
the era of the Seleucidae, B.C. 312. The era of Antioch, B.C. 
49, was also commonly used in the East from that date till A.D. 
600. The Armenian era, A.D. 553, and the Mohammedan, 
A.D. 622 (the Hegira), are likewise worthy of notice. 

The most important chronological monuments are the fol- 
lowing: 

The Assyrian Canon (discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson among the 
antiquities in the British Museum, and pubHshed by him in the Athe- 
noeum, Nos. 1812 and 2064), an account of Assyrian chronology from 
about B.C. 909 to B.C. 680, impressed on a number of clay tablets in the 
reign of Sardanapalus, the son of Esarhaddon, all now more or less 
broken, but supplying each other's deficiencies, and yielding by careful 
comparison a complete chronological scheme, covering a space of 230 
years. The chronology of the whole period is verified by a recorded 
solar eclipse, which is evidently that of June 15, B.C. 763. 

The Apis Stelae (discovered by M. Mariette, close to the Pyramid of 
Abooseer, near Cairo), published in the " Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des 
Morgenlandes " for 1864, and also by M. de Rouge in his " Recherches 
sur les monuments qu'on pent attribuer aux six premieres Dynasties 
de Manethon." Paris, 1866. Most important for Egyptian chronology. 

The Parian Marble (brought to England from Smyrna in the year 
1627 by an agent of the Earl of Arundel, and presented to the University 
of Oxford by his son; preserved among the "Arundel Marbles" in 
the " Schola Philosophise Moralis," but in a very decayed condition), 
a chronological arrangement of important events in Greek history from 
the accession of Cecrops to the archonship of Callistratus, B.C. 355. 
Best editions: " Marmora Arundeliana," ed. J. Selden. Londini, 1628. 
" Marmora Oxoniensia," ed. R. Chandler. Oxoniis, 1763; folio. 
" Marmor Parium," ed. C. Mijller, in Vol. I. of the " Fragmenta His- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 9 

toricum Grjecorum." Parisiis, 1846. The inscription is also given in 
Boeckh's Corpus InscriptioniDii Grcccarum, Vol. II., No. 2374. 

The Fasti Capitolini (discovered at Rome on the site of the ancient 
Forum, partly in the year 1547, partly in 1817 and 1818, and still pre- 
served in the Museum of the Capitol), a list of the Roman magistrates 
and triumphs from the commencement of the Republic to the end of 
the reign of Augustus. Best edition of the fragments discovered in 
1547, the second of Sigonius, Vcnct. 1556. Best edition of the frag- 
ments of 1817-18, that of Borghesi, Milan, 1818. These Fasti are re- 
produced in appendices to the first and second volumes of Dr. Arnold's 
" History of Rome," down to the close of the first Punic War. An 
excellent reprint and arrangement of the fragments will be found in 
Mommsen's " Inscriptiones Latinse Antiquissimge." Berlin, 1863. 

Ancient works on Chronology were numerous; but not many 
have come down to our times. The subject first began to be 
treated as a science by the Alexandrians in the third century 
before Christ. Eratosthenes, Apollodorus, Sosicrates, and 
others undertook the task of arranging the events of past his- 
tory according to exact chronological schemes, which were 
no doubt sufficiently arbitrary. These writers were succeeded 
by Castor (about B.C. 100-50), Cephalion, Julius Africanus 
(A.D. 200), and Hippolytus, of whom the last two were Chris- 
tians. The earliest work of a purely chronological character 
which has come down to us is the following: 

Eusebius Pamphili, " Chronicorum Canonum libri duo." The 
Greek text is lost; but the latter book has been preserved to us in the 
Latin translation of Jerome; and the greater part of both books exists 
in an Armenian version, which has been rendered into Latin by the 
Armenian monk, Zohrab, assisted by Cardinal Mai. (Mediolani, 1818; 
folio.) 

Other chronological works of importance are: 

Georgius Syncellus, " Chronographia," in the " Corpus Hist. By- 
zant.," ed. Dindorf. Bonnae, 1829; 2 vols., 8vo. 

Johannes Malalas, " Chronographia," in the same collection, ed. 
Dindorf. Bonnse, 1831; 8vo. 

" Chronicon Paschale," in the same collection. Bonnae, 1832; 2 
vols., 8vo. 

Scaliger, Jos., " De Emendatione Temporum." Genevse, 1629. 

Ideler, " Handbuch der Chronologic." Berlin, 1825-26; 2 vols., 8vo. 

" L'Art de Verifier les Dates." Paris, 1819-44; 36 vols., 8vo. 

Hales, W., " New Analysis of Chronology, explaining the History 
and Antiquities of the Primitive Nations of the World." London, 



lo RAWLINSON 

1809-12; 3 vols., 4to. New edition, corrected and improved, 1830; 4 
vols., 8vo. 

Clinton, H. F., " Fasti Hellenici; or, The Civil and Literary Chronol- 
ogy of Greece from the Fifty-fifth Olympiad to the Death of Augustus." 
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1827-30; 3 vols., 4to. A valuable work, not 
confined to the chronology of Greece, but embracing that of all the 
Asiatic kingdoms and empires from the earliest times to Alexander's 
conquest of Persia. 

Geography, the other ancillary science to History, was 
recognized from a very early date as closely connected with it. 
The History of Herodotus is almost as much geographical as 
historical: and the geographical element occupies a consider- 
able space in the histories of many other ancient writers, as 
notably Polybius and Diodorus. At the same time the sepa- 
rability of geography, and its claims to be regarded as a distinct 
branch of knowledge, were perceived almost from the first; 
and works upon it, whereof only fragments remain, were written 
by Hecataeiis of Miletus, Scylax of Caryanda, Charon of Lamp- 
sacus, Damastes, Eratosthenes, Agatharchides, Scymnus of 
Chios, and others. The most important of the extant classical 
works on the subject are: 

The " Periplus Maris Mediterranei," ascribed to Scylax of Caryanda, 
but really the work of an unknown writer belonging to the time of 
Philip of Macedon. Ed. D. Hoeschel, August. Vind., 1608. Printed 
also in Hudson's " Geographi Minores," Oxoniis, 1703; and in C. 
Miiller's " Geographi Graeci Minores." Paris, 1855. 

Strabo, " Geographica," in seventeen books, the most important an- 
cient work on the subject. Best editions: that of Is. Casaubon, Parisiis, 
1620, folio; that of Th. Falconer, Oxoniis, 1807, 2 vols., folio; that of 
Siebenkees, Lipsise, 1796-1811, 6 vols., 8vo; and that of Kramer, Bero- 
lini, 1847-52, 3 vols., 8vo. 

Dionysius, " Periegesis," written in hexameter verse. Published, 
with the commentary of Eustathius, by H. Stephanus. Parisiis, 1577. 
It will be found also in the " Geographi Graeci Minores " of Bernhardy 
(Leipsic, 1828) and of C. Mullen 

Plinius, " Historia Naturalis," in thirty-seven books. Best edition, 
that of Sillig. Gothse; 8 vols., 8vo. 

Ptolemseus, " Geographia," in eight books. Ed. Bertius, Amstel., 
1618; folio. 

Pomponius Mela, " Cosmographia, sive De Situ Orbis," in three 
books. Edited by H. Stephanus, together with the " Periegesis " of 
Dionysius. Parisiis, 1577. Best edition, that of Tzschucke. Lipsae, 
1807; 7 vols., 8vo. 



ANCIENT HISTORY ii 

And for the geography of Greece: 

Pausanias, " Periegesis Hclladis," in ten books. Best editions: that 
of Siebelis, Lipsise, 1822-28, 5 vols., 8vo; and that of Bekker, Berlin, 
1826-27, 2 vols., 8vo. 

Modern works on the subject of Ancient Geography are 
numerous, but only a few are of a general character. Among 
these may be noticed: 

Cellarius, " Notitia Orbis Antiqui." Lipsias, 1701-06; 2 vols., 4to. 
" Cum observationibns," J. C. Schwartzii. Lipsise, 1771 and 1773. 

Mannert, " Geographie der Griechen und Romer." Niirnberg, 1801- 
31; 10 vols., 8vo. 

Gosselin, " Recherches sur la Geographie systematique et positive 
des Anciens." Paris. 1798-1813; 4 vols., 4to. 

Rennell, J., " Geography of Herodotus." London, 1800; 4to. And 
the same writer's " Treatise on the Comparative Geography of Asia 
Minor," with an Atlas. London, 1831; 2 vols., 8vo. 

Ritter, " Erdkunde." Berlin, 1832 et seqq. A most copious and 
learned work, embracing all the results of modern discovery up to the 
date of the publication of each volume. 

Smith, Dr. W., " Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography." Lon- 
don, 1854; 2 vols., 8vo. 

Among useful compendiums are — 

Laurent, P. E., " Introduction to Ancient Geography." Oxford, 
1813; 8vo. 

Arrowsmith, A., " Compendium of Ancient and Modern Geography, 
for the use of Eton School." London, 1830; 8vo. 

The best Atlases illustrative of Ancient Geography are the 
following: 

Kiepert, " Atlas von Hellas," with supplementary maps. Berlin, 
1846-51. Also the same geographer's " Atlas Antiquus." Berlin, 1861. 

Miiller, C, Maps accompanying the " Geographi Grseci Minores." 
Paris, 1855. 

Johnston, A. Keith, " Atlas of Classical Geography." Edinburgh, 
1866; 4to. 

Smith, Dr. W., " Biblical and Classical Atlas." London, 1868; small 
folio. 

The field of Ancient History may be mapped out either syn- 
chronistically, according to certain periods and epochs, or 



12 RAWLINSON 

ethnographically, according to states and nations. Neither of 
these two methods is absolutely superior to the other, each 
having merits in which the other is deficient. It would be 
embarrassing to have to choose between them; but, fortunately, 
this difficulty is obviated by the possibility of combining the 
two into one system. This combined method, which has been 
already preferred as most convenient by other writers of 
Manuals, will be adopted in the ensuing pages, where the 
general division of the subject will be as follows: 

Book I. — History of the Ancient Asiatic and African States 
and Kingdoms from the Earliest Times to the Foundation of 
the Persian Monarchy by Cyrus the Great, B.C. 558. 

Book II. — History of the Persian Monarchy from the Acces- 
sion of Cyrus to the Death of Darius Codomannus, B.C. 

558-330. 

Book III. — History of the Grecian States, both in Greece 
Proper and elsewhere, from the Earliest Times to the Acces- 
sion of Alexander, B.C. 336. 

Book IV. — History of the Macedonian Monarchy, and the 
Kingdoms into which it broke up, until their absorption into 
the Roman Empire. 

Book V. — History of Rome from the Earliest Times to the 
Fall of the Western Empire, A.D. 476, and Parallel History 
of Parthia. 



BOOK I 

HISTORY OF ASIATIC AND AFRICAN 
NATIONS 



BOOK I 

HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ASIATIC AND AFRICAN 
STATES AND KINGDOMS FROM THE EARLIEST 
TIMES TO THE FOUNDATION OF THE PERSIAN 
MONARCHY BY CYRUS THE GREAT. 



PART L— ASIATIC NATIONS. 

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE GEOGRAPHY 

OF ASIA. 

Asia is the largest of the three great divisions of the Eastern 
Hemisphere, Regarding it as separated from Africa by the 
Red Sea and Isthmus of Suez, and from Europe by the Ural 
Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, and the main 
chain of the Caucasus, its superficial contents will amount to 
17,500,000 square miles, whereas those of Africa are less than 
12,000,000, and those of Europe do not exceed 3,800,000, In 
climate it unites greater varieties than either of the two other 
divisions, extending as it does from the 78th degree of north 
latitude to within a hundred miles of the equator. It thus lies 
mainly within the northern temperate zone, but projects north- 
ward a distance of eleven degrees beyond the Arctic circle, 
while southward it throws into the region of the Tropics three 
long and broad peninsulas. 

Asia consists mainly of a great central table-land, running 
east and west from the neighborhood of the Mgean to the 
north-western frontier of China, with low plains surrounding 
it, which are for the most part fertile and well watered. The 
high table-land is generally bounded by mountain-chains, 
which mostly run parallel to it in latitudinal lines. In places 
these primary latitudinal chains give way to others, which run 
in an opposite or longitudinal direction. 

15 



i6 RAWLINSON 

The Rivers of Asia may be divided into two classes — those 
of the central tract, and those of the circumjacent regions. The 
rivers of the central tract are continental or mediterranean; 
i.e., they begin and end without reaching the sea. Either they 
form after a while salt lakes in which their waters are evap- 
orated, or they gradually waste away and lose themselves in 
the sands of deserts. The rivers of the circumjacent plains are, 
on the contrary, oceanic ; i.e., they mingle themselves with the 
waters of the great deep. 

Asia may conveniently be divided into Northern, Central, 
and Southern, the Southern region being again subdivided into 
a Western and an Eastern portion. It is with South-western 
Asia that Ancient History is almost exclusively concerned. 

Northern Asia, or the tract lying north of the Caspian Sea, 
the Jaxartes, and the Altai mountain-chain, is for the most 
part a great grassy plain, of low elevation, destitute of trees, 
and unproductive, the layer of vegetable soil being thin. To- 
wards the north this plain merges into vast frozen wilds capable 
of nourishing only a few hunters. In the west the Ural and 
Altai, in the east the Jablonnoi, and their ofifshoot the Tukulan, 
are the only mountains. The rivers are numerous, and abound 
in fish. The Ural and Altai chains are rich in valuable min- 
erals, as gold, silver, platina, copper, and iron. This region 
was almost unknown to the ancients, who included it under 
the vague name of Scythia. Some scanty notices of it occur, 
however, in Herodotus. 

Central Asia, or the region bounded on the north by the 
Altai, on the west by the Caspian, on the south by the Elburz, 
the Hindu Kush, and the Himalaya, on the east by the Yun- 
ling and other Chinese ranges, consists, excepting in its more 
western portion, of an elevated plateau or table-land, which 
towards the south is not less than 10,000 feet, and towards 
the north is from 4,000 to 2,600 feet above the level of the sea. 
This plateau is intersected by the two great chains of the Thian- 
chan and the Kuen-liin, and otherwise diversified by impor- 
tant ridges. Towards the north the soil admits of pasturage, 
and in the west and south are some rich plains and valleys; 
but the greater part of the region consists of sandy deserts. 
Outside the western boundary of the plateau, which is formed 



ANCIENT HISTORY 17 

by the Bolor and other " longitudinal " chains, a low plain 
succeeds, a continuation of the Siberian steppe, which consists 
also, in the main, of sandy desert, excepting along the courses 
of the streams. 

A small portion only of Central Asia — lying towards the west 
and the south-west — was known to the ancients. In the low 
region between the Elburz range and the Siberian steppe, upon 
the courses of the two great streams which flow down from 
the plateau, were three countries of some importance. These 
were — 

Chorasmia, to the extreme west, between the Caspian and 
the lower Oxus — a desolate region, excepting close along the 
river-bank, known still as Kharesm, and forming part of the 
Khanat of Khiva. 

Sogdiana, between the lower Oxus and the lower Jaxartes, 
resembling Chorasmia in its western portion, but towards the 
east traversed by spurs of the Bolor and the Thian-chan, and 
watered by numerous streams descending from them. The 
chief of these was the Polytimetus of the Greeks, on which 
was Maracanda (Samarkand), the capital. 

Bactria, on the upper Oxus, between Sogdiana and the 
Paropamisus (Hindu Kush). Mountainous, fertile, and well 
watered towards the east, but towards the west descending into 
the desert. Chief cities, Bactra (Balkh), the capital, a little 
south of the Oxus, and Margus (Merv), on a stream of its own, 
in the western desert. 

Southern Asia, according to the division of the continent 
which has been here preferred, comprises all the countries lying 
north of the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian, and the 
Elburz, Hindu Kush, and Himalaya ranges, together with those 
lying east of the Yun-ling, the Ala-chan, and the Khingan, 
which form the eastern boundary of the central table-land. A 
line drawn along the ninety-second meridian (E. from Green- 
wich) will separate this tract, at the point where it is narrowest, 
into an Eastern and Western region, the former containing 
Manchuria, China, and the Siamo-Burmese peninsula, the lat- 
ter Hindustan, Affghanistan, Beluchistan, Persia, the Russian 
Transcaucasian provinces, Turkey in Asia, and Arabia. With 
the Eastern region Ancient History has no concern at all, since 
z 



i8 RAWLINSON 

it was unknown to the great nations of antiquity, and whatever 
history it has belongs to the Modern rather than to the Ancient 
period. With the Western region Ancient History is, on the 
contrary, concerned vitally and essentially, since this region 
formed in the early times, if not the sole, yet at any rate the 
chief, stage on which the historical drama was exhibited. 

South-western Asia is naturally divisible into four main 
regions — viz., Asia Minor, or the peninsula of Anatolia ; the 
adjoining table-land, or the tract which lies between Asia Minor 
and the Valley of the Indus; the lowland south of this table- 
land, which stretches from the base of the mountains to the 
shores of the Indian Ocean; and the Indian Peninsula. 

Asia Minor consists of a central table-land, of moderate 
elevation, lying between the two parallel chains of Taurus and 
Olympus, together with three coast-tracts, situated respectively 
north, west, and south of the plateau. Its chief rivers are the 
Iris (Yechil Irmak), the Halys (Kizil Irmak), and the Sangarius 
''Sakkariyeh), which all fall into the Euxine. Its loftiest moun- 
tain is Argseus, near Csesaraea (Kaisariyeh), which attains an 
altitude of 13,000 feet. On the highest part of the plateau, 
which is towards the south, adjoining Taurus, are a number 
of salt lakes, into which the rivers of this region empty them- 
selves. The largest is the Palus Tattseus (Touz Ghieul), which 
extends about forty-five miles in its greatest length. Asia 
Minor contained in the times anterior to Cyrus the following 
countries: — On the plateau, two: Phrygia and Cappadocia; 
boundary between them, the Halys. In the northern coast- 
tract, two: Paphlagonia and Bithynia; boundary, the Billseus 
(Filiyas). In the western coast-tract, three: Mysia, Lydia, 
and Caria, with the ^olian, Ionian, and Dorian Greeks occupy- 
ing most of the sea-board. In the southern coast-tract, three : 
Lycia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia. The chief cities were Sardis, 
the capital of Lydia; Dascyleium, of Bithynia; Gordium, of 
Phrygia; Xanthus, of Lycia; Tarsus, of Cilicia; and Mazaca 
(afterwards Csesaraea), of Cappadocia ; together with the Gre- 
cian settlements of Miletus, Phocsea, Ephesus, Smyrna, HaH- 
carnassus, and Cnidus on the west, and Cyzicus, Heraclea, 
Sinope, Amisus, Cerasus, and Trapezus upon the north. 

Islands. The littoral islands belonging to Asia Minor were 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



19 



important and numerous. The principal were Proconnesus in 
the Propontis; Tenedos, Lesbos (capital Mytilene), Chios, 
Samos, and Rhodes, in the ^gean; and Cyprus in the Levant 
or Eastern Mediterranean. The chief towns of Cyprus were 
Salamis, Citium, and Paphos, on the coast; and, in the interior, 
Idalium. 

The great highland extending from Asia Minor in the west 
to the mountains which border the Indus Valley in the east, 
comprised seventeen countries — viz., Armenia, Iberia or Sape- 
iria, Colchis, Matiene, Media, Persia, Mycia, Sagartia, Cadusia, 
Hyrcania, Parthia, Aria, Arachosia, Sattagydia, Gandaria, 
Sarangia, and Gedrosia or the Eastern Ethiopia. As these 
countries were mostly of considerable size and importance, a 
short description will be given of each. 

Armenia lay east of Cappadocia. It was a lofty region, 
consisting almost entirely of mountains, and has been well 
called " the Switzerland of Western Asia." The mountain 
system culminates in Ararat, which has an elevation of 17,000 
feet. Hence all the great rivers of this part of Asia take their 
rise, viz., the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Halys, the Araxes, and 
the Cyrus. In the highest part of the region occur two elevated 
lake-basins, those of Urumiyeh and Van, each having a distinct 
and separate water-system of its own. The only town an- 
ciently of much importance was one which occupied the posi- 
tion of the modern Van, on the east coast of the lake of the 
same name. 

Iberia, or Sapeiria, adjoined Armenia to the north-east. It 
comprised the whole of the modern Georgia, together with 
some parts of Russian and Turkish Armenia, as especially the 
region about Kars, Ispir, and Akhaltsik. Its rivers were the 
Cyrus (Kur) and Araxes (Aras), which flow together into the 
Caspian. It had one lake. Lake Goutcha or Sivan, in the 
mountain region north-east of Ararat. 

Colchis, or the valley of the Phasis, between the Caucasus 
and Western Iberia, corresponded to the modern districts of 
Imeritia, Mingrelia, and Guriel. Its chief importance lay in 
its commanding one of the main routes of early commerce, 
which passed by way of the Oxus, Caspian, Aras, and Phasis 
to the Euxine. (Connect with this the Argonautic expedition.) 



20 RAWLINSON 

Chief town, Phasis, at the mouth of the Rion River, a Greek 
settlement. Natives of Colchis, black: believed to be Egyp- 
tians. 

Matiene was a strip of mountain land, running southward 
from Sapeiria, and separating between Assyria and Media 
Magna. It early lost its name, and was reckoned to one or 
other of the adjoining countries. 

Media, one of the largest and most important of the regions 
belonging to this group, extended from the Araxes on the 
north to the desert beyond Isfahan on the south. Eastward 
it reached to the Caspian Gates ; westward it was bounded 
by Matiene, or (when Matiene disappeared) by Armenia and 
Assyria. Its chief rivers were the Araxes (Aras) and the 
Mardus (Kizil Uzen or Sefid-rud). It consisted of two re- 
gions. Northern Media, or Media Atropatene (Azerbijan), and 
Southern Media, or Media Magna. The whole territory was 
mountainous, except towards the south-east, where it abutted 
on the Sagartian desert. The soil was mostly sterile, but some 
tracts were fairly, and a few richly, productive. The chief 
cities were Ecbatana and Rhages. 

Persia lay south and south-east of Media, extending from 
the Median frontier across the Zagros mountain-chain, to the 
shores of the gulf whereto it gave name. It was barren and 
unfruitful towards the north and east, where it ran into the 
Sagartian desert ; mountainous and fairly fertile in the central 
region ; and a tract of arid sand along the coast. Its rivers 
were few and of small size. Two, the Oroatis (Tab) and Granis 
(Khisht river), flowed southward into the Persian Gulf; one, 
the Araxes (Bendamir), with its tributary the Cyrus (Pulwar), 
ran eastward, and terminated in a salt lake (Neyriz or Bakh- 
tigan). The principal cities were Persepolis, Pasargadae, and 
Carmana, which last was the capital of a district of Persia, 
called Carmania. 

Mycia was a small tract south-east of Persia, on the shores 
of the Persian Gulf, opposite the island of Kishm and the pro- 
montory of Ras Mussendum. It was ultimately absorbed into 
Persia Proper. 

Sagartia was at once the largest and the most thinly peopled 
of the plateau countries. It comprised the whole of the great 



ANCIENT HISTORY 21 

desert of Iran, which reaches from Kashan and Koum on the 
west to Sarawan and Quettah towards the east, a distance of 
above 900 miles. It was bounded on the north by Media, 
Parthia, and Aria; on the east by Sarangia and Sattagydia; 
on the south by Mycia and the Eastern Ethiopia ; on the west 
by Media and Persia. It contained in ancient times no city 
of importance, the inhabitants being nomads, whose flocks 
found a scanty pasturage on the less barren portions of the 
great upland. 

Cadusia, or the country of the Cadusians, was a thin strip 
of territory along the south-eastern and southern shores of the 
Caspian, corresponding to the modern Ghilan and Mazande- 
ran. Strictly speaking, it scarcely belonged to the plateau, 
since it lay outside the Elburz range, on the northern slopes 
of the chain, and between them and the Caspian Sea. It con- 
tained no city of importance, but was fertile, well wooded, and 
well watered ; and sustained a numerous population. 

Hyrcania lay east of Cadusia, at the south-eastern corner 
of the Caspian, where the name still exists in the modern river 
Gurgan. The chain of the Elburz here broadens out to a 
width of 200 miles, and a fertile region is formed containing 
many rich valleys and high mountain pastures, together with 
some considerable plains. The chief city of Hyrcania was 
Zadracarta. 

Parthia lay south and south-east of Hyrcania, including 
the sunny flank of the Elburz chain, and the flat country at 
its base as far as the northern edge of the desert, where it 
bordered on Sagartia. It was a narrow but fertile territory, 
watered by the numerous streams which here descend from 
the mountains. 

Aria, the modern territory of Herat, adjoined Parthia on the 
east. It was a small but fertile tract on the river Arius (the Heri- 
rud), with a capital city, called Aria or Artacoana (Herat). 

Arachosia, east of Aria, comprised most of Western and 
Central AfTghanistan. Its rivers were the Etymandrus (Hel- 
mend) and the Arachotus (Arghand-ab). The capital was 
Arachotus (Kandahar?). It was an extensive country, moun- 
tainous and generally barren, but containing a good deal of 
fair pasturage, and a few fertile vales. 



22 RAWLINSON 

Sattagydia adjoined Arachosia on the east, corresponding 
to South-eastern Affghanistan, or the tract between Kandahar 
and the Indus valley. In character it closely resembled Ara- 
chosia, but was on the whole wilder and more rugged. 

Gandaria lay above Sattagydia, comprising the modern 
Kabul and Kaferistan. It consisted of a mass of tangled moun- 
tain-chains, with fertile valleys between them, often, however, 
narrowing to gorges difficult to penetrate. Its principal 
stream was the Cophen (or river of Kabul), a tributary of the 
Indus, and its chief town Caspatyrus (Kabul?). 

Sarangia, or Zarangia, was the tract lying about the salt 
lake (Hamoon) into which the Etymandrus (Helmend) emp- 
ties itself. This tract is fiat, and generally desert, except along 
the courses of the many streams which flow into the Hamoon 
from the north and east. 

Gedrosia corresponded to the modern Beluchistan. It lay 
south of Sarangia, Arachosia, and Sattagydia, and east of 
Sagartia and Mycia. On the east its boundary was the Indus 
valley; on the south it was washed by the Indian Ocean. It 
was a region of alternate rock and sand, very scantily watered, 
and almost entirely destitute of wood. The chief town was 
Pura (perhaps Bunpoor). 

The lowland to the south, or rather the south-west, of the 
great West-Asian plateau, comprised five countries only : viz., 
Syria, Arabia, Assyria, Susis or Susiana, and Babylonia. Each 
of these requires a short notice. 

Syria, bounded by Cilicia on the north, the Euphrates on the 
north-east, the Arabian desert on the south-east and south, and 
by the Levant upon the west, comprised the following regions : 
1st. Syria Proper, or the tract reaching from Amanus to Her- 
mon and Palmyra. Chief cities in the ante-Cyrus period: 
Carchemish, Hamath, Damascus, Baalbek, and Tadmor or 
Palmyra. Chief river, the Orontes. Mountains : Casius, Bar- 
gylus, Libanus, and anti-Libanus. 2d. Phoenicia, the coast- 
tract from the thirty-fifth to the thirty-third parallel, separated 
from Syria Proper by the ridge of Libanus. Chief towns: 
Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Byblus, Tripolis, Aradus. 3d. Pales- 
tine, comprising Galilee, Samaria, Judaea, and Philistia, or 
Palestine Proper. Chief cities: Jerusalem, Samaria, Azotus 



ANCIENT HISTORY 23 

or Ashdod, Ascalon, and Gaza or Cadytis. Mountains : Her- 
mon, Carmel. River, Jordan, Northern and Western Syria 
are mountainous, and generally fertile. Eastern Syria is an 
arid desert, broken only by a few oases, of which the Palmy- 
rene is the principal. 

Arabia lay south and south-east of Syria. It was a country 
of enormous size, being estimated to contain a million of 
square miles, or more than one-fourth the area of Europe. 
Consisting, however, as it does, mainly of sandy or rocky 
deserts, its population must always have been scanty, and its 
productions few. In the ancient world it was never of much 
account, the inhabitants being mainly nomads, and only the 
outlying tribes coming into contact with the neighboring na- 
tions. The only important towns were, in the east, Gerrha, 
a great trading settlement ; in the west, Petra and Elath. 

Assyria intervened between Syria and Media. It was 
bounded on the north by the snowy chain of Niphates, which 
separated it from Armenia, and on the east by the outer ranges 
of Zagros. Westward its limit was the Euphrates, while south- 
ward it adjoined on Babylonia and Susiana. Towards the 
north and east it included some mountain tracts ; but in the 
main it was a great rolling plain, at a low level, scantily watered 
towards the west, where the Euphrates has few affluents, but 
well supplied towards the east, where Mount Zagros sends 
down many large streams to join the Tigris. Its chief cities 
were Ninus, or Nineveh, Calah, and Asshur upon the Tigris ; 
Arbela in the region between the Tigris and Mount Zagros ; 
Nisibis, Amida, Harran or Carrhge, and Circesium in the dis- 
trict between the great rivers. Its streams, besides the Tigris 
and Euphrates, were the Bilichus (Belik) and the Chaboras 
(Western Khabour), afifluents of the Euphrates ; the Centrites 
(Bitlis Chai), the Eastern Khabour, the Zabatus (or Zab Ala), 
the Caprus (or Zab Asfal), and the Gyndes or Physcus (Diya- 
leh), tributaries of the Tigris. It contained on the north the 
mountain range of Masius (Jebel Tur and Karajah Dagh). 
Its chief districts were Aturia, or Assyria Proper, the tract 
about Nineveh ; Adiabene, the country between the Upper 
Zab and the Lower ; Chalonitis, the region south of the Lower 
Zab; and Gozan (or Mygdonia) on the Western Khabour at 



24 RAWLINSON 

the foot of the Mons Masius. The Greeks called the whole 
tract between the two great rivers Mesopotamia. 

Susis, Susiana or Cissia, lay south-east of Assyria, and con- 
sisted chiefly of the low plain between the Zagros range and 
the Tigris, but comprised also a portion of the mountain re- 
gion. Its rivers were the Choaspes (Kerkheh), the Pasitigris 
(Kuran), the Eulaeus (a branch stream formerly running from 
the Choaspes into the Pasitigris), and the Hedypnus (Jerrahi). 
Capital city, Susa, between the Choaspes and Eulaeus rivers. 

Babylonia lay due south of Assyria, in which it was some- 
times included. The line of demarkation between them was 
the limit of the alluvium. On the east Babylonia was bounded 
by Susiana, on the west by Arabia, and on the south by the 
Persian Gulf. It was a single alluvial plain of vast extent and 
extraordinary fertility. The chief cities, besides Babylon on 
the Euphrates, were Ur (now Mugheir), Erech (Warka), Cal- 
neh (NifTer), Cutha (Ibrahim), Sippara or Sepharvaim (Mo- 
saib), and Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud). The more southern part 
of Babylonia, bordering on Arabia and the Persian Gulf, was 
known as Chaldsea. 

The Peninsula of Hindustan, the last of the four great divis- 
ions of South-western Asia, contains nearly a million and 
a quarter of square miles. Nature has divided it into three very 
distinct tracts, one towards the north-west, consisting of the 
basin drained by the Indus ; one towards the east, or the basin 
drained by the Ganges ; and one towards the south, or the 
peninsula proper. Of these the north-western only was con- 
nected with the history of the ancient world. 

This tract, called India from the river on which it lay, was 
separated ofif from the rest of Hindustan by a broad belt of 
desert. It comprised two regions — ist, that known in mod- 
ern times as the Punjab, abutting immediately on the Him- 
alaya chain, and containing about 50,000 square miles ; a vast 
triangular plain, intersected by the courses of five great rivers 
(whence Punj-ab = Five Rivers) — the Indus, the Hydaspes 
(Jelum), the Acesines (Chenab), the Hydraotes (Ravee), and 
the Hyphasis (Sutlej), — fertile along their course, but other- 
wise barren. 2dly, the region known as Scinde, or the 
Indus valley below the Punjab, a tract of about the same size. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 25 

including the rich plain of Cutchi Gandava on the west bank 
of the river, and the broad delta of the Indus towards the south. 
Chief town of the upper region, Taxila (Attok) ; of the south- 
ern, Pattala (Tatta?). 



PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE GEN- 
ERAL CHARACTER OF THE EARLY 
ASIATIC KINGDOMS. 

The physical conformation of Western Asia is favorable 
to the growth of large empires. In the vast plain which ex- 
tends from the foot of Niphates and Zagros to the Persian 
Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, there are no natural 
fastnesses; and the race which is numerically or physically 
superior to the other races inhabiting it readily acquires do- 
minion over the entire region. Similarly, only not quite to the 
same extent, in the upland region which succeeds to this plain 
upon the east, there is a deficiency of natural barriers, and the 
nation which once begins to excel its neighbors, rapidly ex- 
tends its influence over a wide stretch of territory. The upland 
and lowland powers are generally pretty evenly balanced, and 
maintain a struggle in which neither side gives way ; but occa- 
sionally the equality becomes deranged. Circumstances give 
to the one or to the other additional strength ; and the result 
is that its rival is overpowered. Then an empire of still greater 
extent is formed, both upland and lowland falling under the 
sway of the same people. 

Still more remarkable than this uniformity of size is the 
uniformity of governmental type observable throughout all 
these empires. The form of government is in every case a 
monarchy ; the monarchy is always hereditary ; and the hered- 
itary monarch is a despot. A few feeble checks are in some 
instances devised for the purpose of restraining within certain 
limits the caprice or the cruelty of the holder of power; but 
these barriers, where they exist, are easily overleaped ; and 
in most cases there is not even any such semblance of inter- 
ference with the will of the ruler, who is the absolute master of 
the lives, liberties, and property of his subjects. Despotism 



26 RAWLINSON 

is the simplest, coarsest, and rudest of all the forms of civil 
government. It was thus naturally the first which men, 
pressed by a sudden need, extemporized. And in Asia the wish 
has never arisen to improve upon this primitive and imperfect 
essay. 

Some variety is observable in the internal organization of 
the empires. In the remoter times it was regarded as sufficient 
to receive the personal submission of the monarch whose land 
was conquered, to assess his tribute at a certain amount, and 
then to leave him in the unmolested enjoyment of his former 
dignity. The head of an empire was thus a " king of kings," 
and the empire itself was an aggregation of kingdoms. After 
a while an improvement was made on the simplicity of this 
early system. Satraps, or provincial governors, court officials 
belonging to the conquering nation, and holding their office 
only during the good pleasure of the Great King, were sub- 
stituted for the native monarchs ; and arrangements more or 
less complicated were devised for checking and controlling 
them in the exercise of their authority. The power of the head 
of the empire was thus considerably increased ; and the empire 
acquired a stability unknown under the previous system. Uni- 
formity of administration was to a certain extent secured. At 
the same time, a very great diversity underlay this external 
uniformity, since the conquered nations were generally suf- 
fered to retain their own language, religion, and usages. No 
effort was made even to interfere with their laws ; and thus 
the provinces continued, after the lapse of centuries, as separate 
and distinct in tone, feeling, ideas, and aspirations, as at the 
time when they were conquered. The sense of separateness 
was never lost ; the desire of recovering national independence, 
at best, slumbered ; nothing was wanted but opportunity to 
stir up the dormant feeling, and to shatter the seeming unity 
of the empire into a thousand fragments. 

A characteristic of the Oriental monarchies, which very 
markedly distinguishes them from the kingdoms of the West, 
is the prevalence of polygamy. The polygamy of the monarch 
swells to excessive numbers the hangers-on of the court, neces- 
sitates the building of a vast palace, encourages effeminacy 
and luxury, causes the annual outlay of enormous sums on 



ANCIENT HISTORY 27 

the maintenance of the royal household, introduces a degraded 
and unnatural class of human beings into positions of trust and 
dignity ; in a word, at once saps the vital force of the empire 
in its central citadel, and imposes heavy burdens on the mass 
of the population, which tend to produce exhaustion and paral- 
ysis of the whole body politic. The practice of polygamy 
among the upper classes, destroying the domestic affections 
by diluting them, degrades and injures the moral character of 
those who give its tone to the nation, lowers their physical 
energy, and renders them self-indulgent and indolent. Nor 
do the lower classes, though their poverty saves them from 
participating directly in the evil, escape unscathed. Yielding, 
as they commonly do, to the temptation of taking money for 
their daughters from the proprietors of harems, they lose by 
degrees all feeling of self-respect ; the family bond, corrupted 
in its holiest element, ceases to have an elevating influence ; 
and the traflfickers in their own flesh and blood become the 
ready tools of tyrants, the ready applauders of crime, and the 
submissive victims of every kind of injustice and oppression. 
The Asiatic Empires were always founded upon conquest; 
and conquest implies the possession of military qualities in the 
victors superior at any rate to those of the vanquished nations. 
Usually the conquering people were at first simple in their 
habits, brave, hardy, and, comparatively speaking, poor. The 
immediate consequence of their victory was the exchange of 
poverty for riches ; and riches usually brought in their train 
the evils of luxurious living and idleness. The conquerors 
rapidly deteriorated under such influences ; and, if it had not 
been for the common practice of confining the use of arms, 
either wholly or mainly, to their own class, they might, in a 
very few generations, have had to change places with their 
subjects. Even in spite of this practice they continually de- 
creased in courage and warlike spirit. The monarchs usually 
became faineants, and confined themselves to the precincts of 
the palace. The nobles left ofif altogether the habit of athletic 
exercise. Military expeditiops grew to be infrequent. When 
they became a necessity in consequence of revolt or of border 
ravages, the deficiencies of the native troops had to be supplied 
by the employment of foreign mercenaries, who cared nothing 



28 RAWLINSON 

for the cause in which their swords were drawn. Meanwhile, 
the conquerors were apt to quarrel among themselves. Great 
satraps would revolt and change their governments into inde- 
pendent sovereignties. Pretenders to the crown would start 
up among the monarch's nearest relatives, and the strength 
and resources of the state would be wasted in civil conflicts. 
The extortion of provincial governors exhausted the prov- 
inces, while the corruption of the court weakened the empire 
at its centre. Still, the tottering edifice would stand for years, 
or even for centuries, if there was no attack from abroad, by 
a mere vis inerticu; but, sooner or later, such an attack was 
sure to come, and then the unsubstantial fabric gave way at 
once and crumbled to dust under a few blows vigorously dealt 
by a more warlike nation. 



HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ASIATIC KING- 
DOMS PREVIOUS TO CYRUS. 

CHALDEAN MONARCHY. 

The earliest of the Asiatic monarchies sprang up in the 
alluvial plain at the head of the Persian Gulf. Here Moses 
places the first " kingdom " (Gen. x. lo) ; and here Berosus 
regarded a Chaldsean monarchy as established probably as 
early as B.C. 2000. The Hebrew records give Nimrod as the 
founder of this kingdom, and exhibit Chedorlaomer as lord- 
paramount in the region not very long afterwards. The names 
of the kings in the lists of Berosus are lost; but we are told 
that he mentioned by name forty-nine Chaldaean monarchs, 
whose reigns covered a space of 458 years from about B.C. 
2000 to about B.C. 1543. The primeval monuments of the 
cotmtry have yielded memorials of fifteen or sixteen kings, 
who probably belonged to this early period. They were at any 
rate the builders of the most ancient edifices now existing in 
the country ; and their date is long anterior to the time of 
Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar. The phonetic reading of 
these monumental names is too uncertain to justify their in- 
sertion here. It will be sufficient to give, from Berosus, an 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



29 



outline of the dynasties which ruled in Chaldaea, from about 
B.C. 2000 to 747, the era of Nabonassar : 

Chaldasan dynasty, ruling for 458 years 

(Kings: Nimrod, Chedorlaomer) about B.C. 2001 to 1543 

Arabian dynasty, ruling for 245 years about B.C. 1543 to 1298 

Dynasty of forty-five kings, ruling for 526 

years about B.C. 1298 to 772 

Reign of Pul (say 25 years) about B.C. T]2 to 747 

Berosus, it will be observed, marks during this period two, 
if not three, changes of dynasty. After the Chaldasans have 
borne sway for 458 years, they are succeeded by Arabs, who 
hold the dominion for 245 years, when they too are super- 
seded by a race not named, but probably Assyrian. This race 
bears rule for 526 years, and then Pul ascends the throne, and 
reigns for a term of years not stated. (Pul is called " king of 
Assyria " in Scripture ; but this may be an inexactness. He 
is not to be found among the Assyrian monumental kings.) 
These changes of dynasty mark changes of condition. Under 
the first or Chaldsean dynasty, and under the last monarch, 
Pul, the country was flourishing and free. The second dynasty 
was probably, and the third certainly, established by conquest. 
Chaldaea, during the 526 years of the third dynasty, was of 
secondary importance to Assyria, and though from time to 
time engaged in wars with the dominant power of Western 
Asia, was in the main submissive and even subject. The names 
of six kings belonging to this dynasty have been recovered 
from the Assyrian monuments. Among them is a Nebuchad- 
nezzar, while the majority commence with the name of the 
god Merodach. 

The Chaldaean monarchy had from the first an architectural 
character. Babylon, Erech or Orchoe, Accad, and Calneh, 
were founded by Nimrod. Ur was from an early date a city 
of importance. The attempt to build a tower " which should 
reach to heaven," made here (Gen. xi. 4), was in accordance 
with the general spirit of the Chaldsean people. Out of such 
simple and rude materials as brick and bitumen vast edifices 
were constructed, pyramidical in design, but built in steps or 
stages of considerable altitude. Other arts also flourished. 
Letters were in use; and the baked bricks employed by the 



30 



RAWLINSON 



royal builders had commonly a legend in their centre. Gems 
were cut, polished, and engraved with representations of hu- 
man forms, portrayed with spirit. Metals of many kinds were 
worked, and fashioned into arms, ornaments, and implements. 
Textile fabrics of a delicate tissue were manufactured. Com- 
merce was carried on with the neighboring nations both by 
land and sea : the " ships of Ur " visiting the shores of the 
Persian Gulf, and perhaps those of the ocean beyond it. The 
study of Astronomy commenced, and observations of the heav- 
enly bodies were made, and carefully recorded. 

ASSYRIAN MONARCHY. 

The traces which we possess of the First Period are chiefly 
monumental. The Assyrian inscriptions furnish two lists — 
one of three, and the other of four consecutive kings — which 
belong probably to this early time. The seat of empire is at 
first Asshur (now Kileh Sherghat), on the right bank of the 
Tigris, about sixty miles below Nineveh. Some of the kings 
are connected by intermarriage with the Chaldaean monarchs 
of the period, and take part in the struggles of pretenders to 
the Chaldsean crown. One of them, Shalmaneser I., wars in 
the mountain-chain of Niphates, and plants cities in that region 
(about B.C. 1270). This monarch also builds Calah (Nimrud), 
forty miles north of Asshur, on the left or east bank of the river. 

The Second Period is evidently that of which Herodotus 
spoke as lasting for 520 years, from about B.C. 1260 to 740. 
It commenced with the conquest of Babylon by Tiglathi-nin 
(probably the original of the Greek " Ninus "), and it "termi- 
nated with the new dynasty established by Tiglath-pileser II. 
The monuments furnish for the earlier portion of this period 
some nine or ten discontinuous royal names, while for the 
later portion they supply a complete consecutive list, and an 
exact chronology. The exact chronology begins with the year 
B.C. 909. 

The great king of the earlier portion of the Second Period 
is a certain Tiglath-pileser, who has left a long historical in- 
scription, which shows that he carried his arms deep into 
Mount Zagros on the one hand, and as far as Northern Syria 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



31 



on the other. He Hkewise made an expedition into Babylonia. 
Date, about B.C. 1130. His son was also a warlike prince ; but 
from about B.C. iioo to 900 Assyrian history is still almost 
a blank ; and it is probable that we have here a period of 
depression. 

For the later portion of the Second Period — from B.C. 909 
to 745 — the chronology is exact, and the materials for history 
are abundant. In this period Calah became the capital, and 
several of the palaces and temples were erected which have 
been disinterred at Nimrud. The Assyrian monarchs carried 
their arms beyond Zagros, and came into contact with Medes 
and Persians ; they deeply penetrated Armenia ; and they 
pressed from Northern into Southern Syria, and imposed their 
yoke upon the Phoenicians, the kingdom of Damascus, and 
the kingdom of Israel. The names of Ben-hadad, Hazael, 
Ahab, and Jehu are common to the Assyrian and Hebrew 
records. Towards the close of the period, the kings became 
slothful and unwarlike, military expeditions ceased, or were 
conducted only to short distances and against insignificant 
enemies. 

The Assyrian art of the Second shows a great advance upon 
that of the First Period. Magnificent palaces were built, 
richly embellished with bas-reliefs. Sculpture was rigid, but 
bold and grand. Literature was more cultiva^ted. The history 
of each reign was written by contemporary annalists, and cut 
on stone, or impressed on cylinders of baked clay. Engraved 
stckc were erected in all the countries under Assyrian rule. 
Considerable communication took place with foreign coun- 
tries ; and Bactrian camels, baboons, curious antelopes, ele- 
phants, and rhinoceroses were imported into Assyria from the 
East. 

In the Third Period the Assyrian Empire reached the height 
of its greatness under the dynasty of the Sargonidse, after 
which it fell suddenly, owing to blows received from two pow- 
erful foes. The period commenced with a revival of the mili- 
tary spirit and vigor of the nation under Tiglath-pileser II., 
the king of that name mentioned in Scripture. Distant expe- 
ditions were resumed, and the arms of Assyria carried into 
new regions. Egypt was attacked and reduced ; Susiana was 



32 



RAWLINSON 



subjugated; and in Asia Minor Taurus was crossed, Cappa- 
docia invaded, and relations established with the Lydian mon- 
arch, Gyges. Naval expeditions were undertaken both in the 
Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. Cyprus submitted, and 
the Assyrian monarchs numbered Greeks among their sub- 
jects. Almost all the kings of the period came into contact 
with the Jews, and the names of most of them appear in the 
Hebrew records. Towards the close of the period the empire 
sustained a severe shock from the sudden invasion of vast 
hordes of Scythians from the North. Before it could recover 
from the prostration caused by this attack, its old enemy. 
Media, fell upon it, and, assisted by Babylon, effected its de- 
struction. 

Assyrian art attained to its greatest perfection during this 
last period. Palaces were built by Tiglath-pileser II. at Calah, 
by Sargon at Dur Sargina (Khorsabad), by Sennacherib at 
Nineveh, by Esarhaddon at Calah and Nineveh, by Sardanap- 
alus II. at Nineveh, and by Saracus at Calah. Glyptic art ad- 
vanced, especially under Sardanapalus, when the animal forms 
were executed with a naturalness and a spirit worthy of the 
Greeks. At the same time carving in ivory, metallurgy, model- 
ling, and other similar arts made much progress. An active 
commerce united Assyria with Phcenicia, Egypt, and Greece. 
Learning of various kinds — astronomic, geographic, linguis- 
tic, historical — was pursued; and stores were accumulated 
which will long exercise the ingenuity of the moderns. 



MEDIAN MONARCHY. 

The primitive history of the Medes is enveloped in great 
obscurity. The mention of them as Madai in Genesis (x. 2), 
and the statement of Berosus that they furnished an early dy- 
nasty to Babylon, imply their importance in very ancient times. 
But scarcely any thing is known of them till the ninth century 
B.C., when they were attacked in their own proper country, 
Media Magna, by the Assyrians (about B.C. 830). At this 
time they were under the government of numerous petty chief- 
tains, and ofifered but a weak resistance to the arms of the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



33 



Assyrian monarchs. No part of their country, however, was 
reduced to subjection until the time of Sargon, who conquered 
some Median territory about B.C. 710, and planted it with 
cities in which he placed his Israelite captives. The subse- 
quent Assyrian monarchs made further conquests; and it is 
evident from their records that no great Median monarchy had 
arisen down to the middle of the seventh century B.C. 

The earliest date which, with our present knowledge, we 
can assign for the commencement of a great Median monarchy 
is B.C. 650. The monarchs assigned by Herodotus and Ctesias 
to a time anterior to this may conceivably have been chiefs 
of petty Median tribes, but were certainly not the heads of the 
whole nation. The probability is that they are fictitious per- 
sonages. Suspicion attaches especially to the list of Ctesias, 
which appears to have been formed by an intentional duplica- 
tion of the regnal and other periods mentioned by Herodotus. 

There is reason to believe that about B.C. 650, or a little 
later, the Medes of Media Magna were largely reinforced by 
fresh immigrants from the East, and that shortly afterwards 
they were enabled to take an aggressive attitude towards As- 
syria, such as had previously been quite beyond their power. 
In B.C. 633 — according to Herodotus — they attacked Nineveh, 
but were completely defeated, their leader, whom he calls 
Phraortes, being slain in the battle. Soon after this occurred 
the Scythian inroad, which threw the Medes upon the defen- 
sive, and hindered them from resuming their schemes of con- 
quest for several years. But, when this danger had passed, 
they once more invaded the Assyrian Empire in force. Nine- 
veh was invested and fell. Media upon this became the leading 
power of Western Asia, but was not the sole power, since the 
spoils of Assyria were divided between her and Babylon. 

Less is known of Median art and civilization than of As- 
syrian, Babylonian, or Persian. Their architecture appears 
to have possessed a barbaric magnificence, but not much of 
either grandeur or beauty. The great palace at Ecbatana 
was of wood, plated with gold and silver. After the conquest 
of Nineveh, luxurious habits were adopted from the Assyrians, 
and the court of Astyages was probably as splendid as that 
of Esarhaddon and Sardanapalus. The chief known peculiar- 
3 



34 



RAWLINSON 



ity of the Median kingdom was the ascendency exercised in 
it by the Magi — a priestly caste claiming supernatural powers, 
which had, apparently, been adopted into the nation. 

BABYLONIAN MONARCHY. 

After the conquest of Babylonia by the Assyrians, about 
B.C. 1250, an Assyrian dynasty was established at Babylon, 
and the country was, in general, content to hold a secondary 
position in Western Asia, acknowledging the suzerainty of 
the Ninevite kings. From time to time efforts were made to 
shake off the yoke, but without much success till the accession 
of Nabonassar, B.C. 747. Under Nabonassar and several of 
his successors Babylonia appears to have been independent; 
and this condition of independence continued, with intervals 
of subjection, down to the accession of Esarhaddon, B.C. 680, 
when Assyrian supremacy was once more established. Baby- 
lon then continued in a subject position, till the time when 
Nabopolassar made alliance with Cyaxares, joined in the last 
siege of Nineveh, and, when Nineveh fell, became independent, 
B.C. 625. 

During the Second Period, Babylonia was not only an inde- 
pendent kingdom, but was at the head of an empire. Nabo- 
polassar and Cyaxares divided the Assyrian dominions be- 
tween them, the former obtaining for his share Susiana, the 
Euphrates valley, Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. A brilliant 
period followed. At first indeed the new empire was threat- 
ened by Egypt; and for a few years the western provinces 
were actually held in subjection by Pharaoh-nechoh ; but 
Babylon now aroused herself, defeated Nechoh, recovered her 
territory, and carrying her arms through Palestine into Egypt, 
chastised the aggressor on his own soil. From this time till 
the invasion of Cyrus the empire continued to flourish, but 
became gradually less and less warlike, and offered a poor 
resistance to the Persians. 

The architectural works of the Babylonians, more especially 
under Nebuchadnezzar, were of surpassing grandeur. The 
" hanging gardens " of that prince, and the walls with which 
he surrounded Babylon, were reckoned among the Seven 



ANCIENT HISTORY 35 

Wonders of the World. The materials used were the same 
as in the early Chaldasan times, sunburnt and baked brick ; 
but the baked now preponderated. The ornamentation of 
buildings was by bricks of different hues, or sometimes by 
a plating of precious metal, or by enamelling. By means of 
the last-named process, war-scenes and hunting-scenes were 
represented on the walls of palaces, which are said to have been 
life-like and spirited. Temple-towers were still built in stages, 
which now sometimes reached the number of seven. Useful 
works of great magnitude were also constructed by some of 
the kings, especially by Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonadius ; 
such as canals, reservoirs, embankments, sluices, and piers 
on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Commerce flourished, and 
Babylon was reckoned emphatically a " city of merchants." 
The study of astronomy was also pursued with zeal and in- 
dustry. Observations were made and carefully recorded. The 
sky was mapped out into constellations, and the fixed stars 
were catalogued. Occultations of the planets by the sun and 
moon were noted. Time was accurately measured by means 
of sun-dials, and other astronomical instruments were prob- 
ably invented. At the same time it must be confessed that the 
astronomical science of the Babylonians was not pure, but was 
largely mixed with astrology, more especially in the later times. 



KINGDOMS IN ASIA MINOR. 

The geographical formation of Asia Minor, which separates 
it into a number of distinct and isolated regions, was probably 
the main reason why it did not in early times become the seat 
of a great empire. The near equality of strength that existed 
among several of the races by which it was inhabited — as the 
Phrygians, the Lydians, the Carians, the Cilicians, the Paph- 
lagonians, and the Cappadocians — would tend naturally in the 
same direction, and lead to the formation of several parallel 
kingdoms instead of a single and all-embracing one. Never- 
theless, ultimately, such a great kingdom did grow up ; but 
it had only just been formed when it was subverted by one 
more powerful. 



36 RAWLINSON 

The most powerful state in the early times seems to have 
been Phrygia. It had an extensive and fertile territory, espe- 
cially suited for pasturage, and was also rich in the possession 
of salt lakes, which largely furnished that necessary of life. 
The people were brave, but somewhat brutal. They had a 
lively and martial music. It is probable that they were at no 
time all united into a single community ; but there is no reason 
to doubt that a considerable monarchy grew up in the north- 
western portion of the country, about B.C. 750 or earlier. The 
capital of the kingdom was Gordiaeum on the Sangarius. The 
monarchs bore alternately the two names of Gordias and 
Midas. As many as four of each name have been distinguished 
by some critics ; but the dates of the reigns are uncertain, 
A Midas appears to have been contemporary with Alyattes 
(about B.C. 600 to 570), and a Gordias with Croesus (B.C. 570 
to 560). Phrygia was conquered and became a province of 
Lydia about B.C. 560. 

Cilicia was likewise the seat of a monarchy in times anterior 
to Cyrus. About B.C. 711 Sargon gave the country to Am- 
bris, king of Tubal, as a dowry with his daughter. Senna- 
cherib, about B.C. 701, and Esarhaddon, about B.C. 677, in- 
vaded and ravaged the region. Tarsus was founded by Senna- 
cherib, about B.C. 685. In B.C. 666 Sardanapalus took to 
wife a Cilician princess. Fifty years afterwards we find a Syen- 
nesis seated on the throne, and from this time all the kings 
appear to have borne that name or title. Cilicia maintained 
her independence against Croesus, and (probably) against Cy- 
rus, but submitted to Persia soon afterwards, probably in the 
reign of Cambyses. 

Ultimately the most important of all the kingdoms of Asia 
Minor was Lydia. According to the accounts which Herodo- 
tus followed, a Lydian kingdom had existed from very ancient 
times, monarchs to whom he gives the name of Manes, Atys, 
Lydus, and Meles, having borne sway in Lydia prior to B.C. 
1229. This dynasty, which has been called Atyadae, was fol- 
lowed by one of Heraclidae, which continued in power for 505 
years — from B.C. 1229 to 724. (The last six kings of this 
dynasty are known from Nicholas of Damascus who follows 
Xanthus, the native writer. They were Adyattes I., Ardys, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 37 

Adyattes II., Meles, Myrsiis, and Sadyattes or Candaules.) 
On the murder of Candaules, B.C. 724, a third dynasty — that 
of the Mermnadae — bore rule. This continued till B.C. 554, 
when the last Lydian monarch, Croesus, was conquered by 
Cyrus. This monarch had previously succeeded in changing 
his kingdom into an empire, having extended his dominion 
over all Asia Minor, excepting Lycia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia. 



PHCENICIA. 

Phoenicia, notwithstanding the small extent of its territory, 
which consisted of a mere strip of land between the crest of 
Lebanon and the sea, was one of the most important countries 
of the ancient world. In her the commercial spirit first showed 
itself as the dominant spirit of a nation. She was the carrier 
between the East and the West — the link that bound them 
together — in times anterior to the first appearance of the 
Greeks as navigators. No complete history of Phoenicia has 
come down to us, nor can a continuous history be constructed ; 
but some important fragments remain, and the general con- 
dition of the country, alternating between subjection and in- 
dependence, is ascertained sufficiently. 

At no time did Phoenicia form either a single centralized 
state, or even an organized confederacy. Under ordinary cir- 
cumstances the states were separate and independent: only 
in times of danger did they occasionally unite under the leader- 
ship of the most powerful. The chief cities were Tyre, Sidon, 
Berytus, Byblus, Tripolis, and Aradus. Of these Sidon seems 
to have been the most ancient ; and there is reason to believe 
that, prior to about B.C. 1050, she was the most flourishing of 
all the Phoenician communities. 

The priority and precedency enjoyed by Sidon in the remoter 
times devolved upon Tyre (her colony, according to some) 
about B.C. 1050. The defeat of Sidon by the Philistines of 
Ascalon is said to have caused the transfer of power. Tyre, 
and indeed every Phoenician city, was under the rule of kings ; 
but the priestly order had considerable influence; and an 
aristocracy of birth, or wealth, likewise restrained any tyran- 



38 RAWLINSON 

nical inclinations on the part of the monarch. The Hst of the 
Tyrian kings from about B.C. 1050 to 830 is known to us 
from the fragments of Menander. 

The commercial spirit of Phcenicia was largely displayed 
during this period, which, till towards its close, was one of 
absolute independence. The great monarchies of Egypt and 
Assyria were now, comparatively speaking, weak ; and the 
states between the Euphrates and the African border, being 
free from external control, were able to pursue their natural 
bent without interference. Her commercial leanings early in- 
duced Phoenicia to begin the practice of establishing colonies ; 
and the advantages which the system was found to secure 
caused it to acquire speedily a vast development. The coasts 
and islands of the Mediterranean were rapidly covered with 
settlements ; the Pillars of Hercules were passed, and cities 
built on the shores of the ocean. At the same time factories 
were established in the Persian Gulf ; and, conjointly with the 
Jews, on the Red Sea. Phoenicia had at this time no serious 
commercial rival, and the trade of the world was in her hands. 

The geographical position of the Phoenician colonies marks 
the chief lines of their trade, but is far from indicating its full 
extent ; since the most distant of these settlements served as 
starting-points whence voyages were made to remoter regions. 
Phoenician merchantmen proceeding from Gades and Tartes- 
sus explored the western coast of Africa, and obtained tin from 
Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. The traders of Tylus and 
Aradus extended their voyages beyond the Persian Gulf to 
India and Taprobane, or Ceylon. Phoenician navigators, start- 
ing from Elath in the Red Sea, procured gold from Ophir, on 
the south-eastern coast of Arabia. Thasos and the neighbor- 
ing islands furnished convenient stations from which the 
Euxine could be visited and commercial relations established 
with Thrace, Scythia, and Colchis. Some have supposed that 
the North Sea was crossed and the Baltic entered in quest of 
amber; but the balance of evidence is, on the whole, against 
this extreme hypothesis. 

The sea-trade of the Phoenicians was probably supplemented 
from a very remote date by a land trafific ; but this portion 
of their commerce scarcely obtained its full development till 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



39 



the time of Nebuchadnezzar. A line of communication must 
indeed have been established early with the Persian Gulf set- 
tlements ; and in the time of Solomon there was no doubt 
a route open to Phoenician traders from Tyre or Joppa, through 
Jerusalem, to Elath. But the generally disturbed state of 
Western Asia during the Assyrian period would have rendered 
land traffic then so insecure, that, excepting where it was a 
necessity, it would have been avoided. 

Towards the close of the period, whereof the history has 
been sketched above, the military expeditions of the Assyr- 
ians began to reach Southern Syria, and Phoenician inde- 
pendence seems to have been lost. We can not be sure 
that the submission was continuous ; but from the middle of 
the ninth till past the middle of the eighth century there occur 
in the contemporary monuments of Assyria plain indications 
of Phcenician subjection, while there is no evidence of resist- 
ance or revolt. Native sovereigns tributary to Assyria reign 
in the Phoenician towns and are reckoned by the Assyrian 
monarchs among their dependents. The country ceases to _|^ 
have a history of its own ; and, with one exception, the very 
names of its rulers have perished. 

About B.C. 743 the passive submission of Phoenicia to the 
Assyrian yoke began to be exchanged for an impatience of it, 
and frequent efforts were made, from this date till Nineveh fell, 
to re-establish Phoenician independence. These efforts for the 
most part failed ; but it is not improbable that finally, amid 
the troubles under which the Assyrian empire succumbed, suc- 
cess crowned the nation's patriotic exertions, and autonomy 
was recovered. 

Scarcely, however, had Assyria fallen, when a new enemy 
appeared upon the scene. Nechoh of Egypt, about B.C. 608, 
conquered the whole tract between his own borders and the 
Euphrates. Phoenicia submitted or was reduced, and remained 
for three years an Egyptian dependency. 

Nebuchadnezzar, in B.C. 605, after his defeat of Nechoh at 
Carchemish, added Phoenicia to Babylon ; and, though Tyre 
revolted from him eight years later, B.C. 598, and resisted for 
thirteen years all his attempts to reduce her, yet at length she 
was compelled to submit, and the Babylo'nian yoke was firmly 



40 RAWLINSON 

fixed on the entire Phoenician people. It is not quite certain 
that they did not shake it off upon the death of the great Baby- 
lonian king ; but, on the whole, probability is in favor of their 
having remained subject till the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, 
B.C. 538. As usual, the internal government of the depend- 
ency was left to the conquered people, who were ruled at this 
time either by native kings, or, occasionally, by judges. 

As Greece rose to power, and as Carthage increased in im- 
portance, the sea-trade of Phoenicia was to a certain extent 
checked. The commerce of the Euxine and the ^gean 
passed almost wholly into the hands of the alien Hellenes ; 
that of the Western Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean 
had to be shared with the daughter state. Meanwhile, however, 
in consequence of the more settled condition of Western Asia, 
first under the later Assyrian, and then under the Babylonian 
monarchs, the land trade received a considerable development, 
A line of traffic was established with Armenia and Cappa- 
docia, and Phoenician manufactures were exchanged for the 
horses, mules, slaves, and brazen or copper utensils of those 
regions. Another line passed by Tadmor, or Palmyra, to 
Thapsacus, whence it branched on the one hand through Up- 
per Mesopotamia to Assyria, on the other down the Euphrates 
valley to Babylon and the Persian Gulf. Whether a third 
line traversed the Arabian peninsula from end to end for the 
sake of the Yemen spices may be doubted ; but, at any rate, 
communication must have been kept up by land with the 
friendly Jerusalem, and with the Red Sea, which was certainly 
frequented by Phoenician fleets. 

The Phoenician commerce was chiefly a carrying trade ; but 
there were also a few productions of their own in which their 
traffic was considerable. The most famous of these was the 
purple dye, which they obtained from two shell-fish, the buc- 
cinum and the murex, and by the use of which they gave a 
high value to their textile fabrics. Another was glass, whereof 
they claimed the discovery, and which they manufactured into 
various articles of use and ornament. They were also skilful 
in metallurgy ; and their bronzes, their gold and silver vessels, 
and other works in metal, had a high repute. Altogether, they 
have a claim to be considered one of the most ingenious of the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 41 

nations of antiquity, though we must not ascribe to them the 
invention of letters or the possession of any remarkable artistic 
talent. 

SYRIA. 

Syria, prior to its formation into a Persian satrapy, had at 
no time any political unity. During the Assyrian period it was 
divided into at least five principal states, some of which were 
mere loose confederacies. The five states were — i. The north- 
ern Hittites. Chief city, Carchemish (probably identical with 
the later Mabog, now Bambuch). 2. The Patena, on the lower 
Orontes. Chief city, Kinalua. 3. The people of Hamath, in 
the Coele-Syrian valley, on the upper Orontes. Chief city, 
Hamath (now Hamah). 4. The southern Hittites, in the tract 
south of Hamath. 5. The Syrians of Damascus, in the Anti- 
Libanus, and the fertile country between that range and the 
desert. Chief city, Damascus, on the Abana (Barada). 

Of these states the one which was, if not the most powerful, 
yet at any rate the most generally known, was Syria of Damas- 
cus. The city itself was as old as the time of Abraham. The 
state, which was powerful enough, about B.C. 1000, to escape 
absorption into the empire of Solomon, continued to enjoy 
independence down to the time of Tiglath-pileser H., and was 
a formidable neighbor to the Jewish and Israelite monarchs. 
After the capture by Tiglath-pileser, about B.C. 732, a time 
of great weakness and depression ensued. One or two feeble 
attempts at revolt were easily crushed ; after which, for a while, 
Damascus wholly disappears from history. 

JUD^A. 

The history of the Jews and Israelites is known to us in com- 
pleter sequence and in greater detail than that of any other 
people of equal antiquity, from the circumstance that there has 
been preserved to our day so large a portion of their literature. 
The Jews became familiar with writing during their sojourn 
in Egypt, if not even earlier; and kept records of the chief 
events in their national life from that time almost uninterrupt- 
edly. From the sacred character which attached to many of 



42 



RAWLINSON 



their historical books, pecuHar care was taken of them; and 
the result is that they have come down to us nearly in their 
original form. Besides this, a large body of their ancient poesy 
is still extant, and thus it becomes possible to describe at length 
not merely the events of their civil history, but their manners, 
customs, and modes of thought. 

The history of the Jewish state commences with the Exodus, 
which is variously dated, at B.C. 1652 (Poole), B.C. 1491 
(Ussher), or B.C. 1320 (Bunsen, Lepsius). The long chronol- 
ogy is, on the whole, to be preferred. We may conveniently 
divide the history into three periods. 

Periods. B.C. 

I. From the Exodus to the establishment of the monarchy 1650-1095 
II. From the estabHshment of the monarchy to the sep- 
aration into two kingdoms 1095-975 

III. From the separation of the kingdoms to the captivity 

under Nebuchadnezzar 975-586 

During the First Period the Jews regarded themselves as 
under a theocracy ; or, in other words, the policy of the nation 
was directed in all difficult crises by a reference to the Divine 
will, which there was a recognized mode of consulting. The 
earthly ruler, or rather leader, of the nation did not aspire to 
the name or position of king, but was content to lead the nation 
in war and judge it in peace from a position but a little elevated 
above that of the mass of the people. He obtained his office 
neither by hereditary descent nor by election, but was super- 
naturally designated to it by revelation to himself or to an- 
other, and exercised it with the general consent, having no 
means of compelling obedience. When once his authority was 
acknowledged, he retained it during the remainder of his life ; 
but it did not always extend over the whole nation. When 
he died, he was not always succeeded immediately by another 
similar ruler: on the contrary, there was often a considerable 
interval during which the nation had either no head, or ac- 
knowledged subjection to a foreign conqueror. When there 
was no head, the hereditary chiefs of tribes and families seem 
to have exercised jurisdiction and authority over the different 
districts. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 43 

The chronology of this period is exceedingly uncertain, as 
is evident from the dififerent dates assigned above to the 
Exodus. The Jews had different traditions upon the sub- 
ject ; and the chronological notices in their sacred books were 
neither complete, nor, apparently, intended for exact state- 
ments. The numbers, therefore, in the subjoined sketch must 
be regarded as merely approximate. 

The Second Period of the Jewish state comprises three reigns 
only — those of Saul, David, and Solomon. Each of these was 
regarded as having lasted exactly forty years ; and thus the 
entire duration of the single monarchy was reckoned at 120 
years. The progress of the nation during this brief space is 
most remarkable. When Saul ascends the throne the condi- 
tion of the people is but little advanced beyond the point which 
was reached when the tribes under Joshua took possession of 
the Promised Land. Pastoral and agricultural occupations 
still engross the attention of the Israelites ; simple habits pre- 
vail ; there is no wealthy class ; the monarch, like the Judges, 
has no court, no palace, no extraordinary retinue ; he is still 
little more than leader in war, and chief judge in time of peace. 
Again, externally, the nation is as weak as ever. The Ammo- 
nites on the one side, and the Philistines on the other, ravage 
its territory at their pleasure ; and the latter people have en- 
croached largely upon the Israelite borders, and reduced the 
Israelites to such a point of depression that they have no arms, 
offensive or defensive, nor even any workers in iron. Under 
Solomon, on the contrary, within a century of this time of 
weakness, the Israelites have become the paramount race in 
Syria. An empire has been formed which reaches from the 
Euphrates at Thapsacus to the Red Sea and the borders of 
Egypt. Numerous monarchs are tributary to the Great King 
who reigns at Jerusalem ; vast sums in gold and silver flow 
into the treasury ; magnificent edifices are constructed ; trade 
is established both with the East and with the West ; the court 
of Jerusalem vies in splendor with those of Nineveh and Mem- 
phis ; luxury has invaded the country ; a seraglio on the largest 
scale has been formed ; and the power and greatness of the 
prince has become oppressive to the bulk of the people. Such 
a rapid growth was necessarily exhaustive of the nation's 



44 RAWLINSON 

strength; and the dedine of the IsraeHtes as a people dates 
from the division of the kingdom, 

Saul, divinely pointed out to Samuel, is anointed by him, 
and afterwards accepted by the people upon the casting of lots. 
He is remarkable for his comeliness and lofty stature. In his 
first year he defeats the Ammonites, who had overrun the land 
of Gilead. He then makes war on the Philistines, and gains 
the great victory of Michmash ; from which time till near the 
close of his reign the Philistines remain upon the defensive. 
He also attacks the Amalekites, the Moabites, the Edomites, 
and the Syrians of Zobah. In the Amalekite war he offends 
God by disobedience, and thereby forfeits his right to the king- 
dom. Samuel, by divine command, anoints David, who is 
thenceforth an object of jealousy and hatred to the reigning 
monarch, but is protected by Jonathan, his son. Towards the 
close of Saul's reign the Philistines once more assume the of- 
fensive, under Achish, king of Oath, and at Mount Gilboa 
defeat the Israelites under Saul. Saul, and all his sons but one 
(Ishbosheth), fall in the battle. 

A temporary division of the kingdom follows the death of 
Saul. Ishbosheth, conveyed across the Jordan by Abner, is 
acknowledged as ruler in Gilead, and after five years, during 
which his authority is extended over all the tribes except 
Judah, is formally crowned as King of Israel at Mahanaim. 
He reigns there two years, when he is murdered. Meanwhile 
David is made king by his own tribe, Judah, and reigns at 
Hebron. 

On the death of Ishbosheth, David became king of the whole 
nation. His first act was the capture of Jerusalem, which up 
to this time had remained in the possession of the Jebusites. 
Having taken it, he made it the seat of government, built him- 
self a palace there, and, by removing to it the Ark of the Cove- 
nant, constituted it the national sanctuary. At the same time 
a court was formed at the new capital, a moderate seraglio 
set up, and a royal state affected unknown hitherto in Israel. 

A vast aggrandizement of the state by means of foreign con- 
quests followed. The Philistines were chastised, Gath taken, 
and the Israelite dominions in this quarter pushed as far as 
Gaza. Moab was invaded, two-thirds of the inhabitants ex- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 45 

terminated, and the remainder forced to pay an annual tribute 
to the conqueror. War followed with Ammon, and with the 
various Syrian states interposed between the Holy Land and 
the Euphrates. At least three great battles were fought, with 
the result that the entire tract between the Jordan and the Eu- 
phrates was added to the Israelite territory. A campaign re- 
duced Edom, and extended the kingdom to the Red Sea. An 
empire was thus formed, which proved indeed short-lived, but 
was as real while it lasted as those of Assyria or Babylon. 

The glories of David's reign were tarnished by two re- 
bellions. The fatal taint of polygamy, introduced by David 
into the nation, gave occasion to these calamities, which arose 
from the mutual jealousies of his sons. First Absalom, and 
then Adonijah, assume the royal title in their father's lifetime ; 
and pay for treason, the one immediately, the other ultimately, 
with their lives. After the second rebellion, David secures 
the succession to Solomon by associating him upon the throne. 

The reign of Solomon is the culminating point of Jewish 
history. Resistance on the part of the conquered states has, 
with scarcely an exception, now ceased, and the new king can 
afford to be " a man of peace." The position of his kingdom 
among the nations of the earth is acknowledged by the neigh- 
boring powers, and the reigning Pharaoh does not scruple to 
give him his daughter in marriage. A great commercial move- 
ment follows. By alliance with Hiram of Tyre, Solomon is 
admitted to a share in the profits of Phoenician trafific, and the 
vast influx of the precious metals into Palestine which results 
from this arrangement enables the Jewish monarch to indulge 
freely his taste for ostentation and display. The court is recon- 
structed on an increased scale. A new palace of enlarged di- 
mensions and far greater architectural magnificence super- 
sedes the palace of David. The seraglio is augmented, and 
reaches a point which has no known parallel. A throne of 
extraordinary grandeur proclaims in language intelligible to 
all the wealth and greatness of the empire. Above all, a sanct- 
uary for the national worship is constructed on the rock of 
Moriah, on which all the mechanical and artistic resources of 
the time are lavished ; and the Ark of the Covenant, whose 
wanderings have hitherto marked the unsettled and insecure 



46 RAWLINSON 

condition of the nation, obtains at length a fixed and perma- 
nent resting-place. 

But close upon the heels of success and glory follows decline. 
The trade of Solomon — a State monopoly — enriched himself 
but not his subjects. The taxes which he imposed on the prov- 
inces for the sustentation of his enormous court exhausted and 
impoverished them. His employment of vast masses of the 
people in forced labors of an unproductive character was a 
wrongful and uneconomical interference with industry, which 
crippled agriculture and aroused a strong feeling of discontent. 
Local jealousies were provoked by the excessive exaltation of 
the tribe of Judah. The enervating influence of luxury began 
to be felt. Finally, a subtle corruption was allowed to spread 
itself through all ranks by the encouragement given to false 
religions, religions whose licentious and cruel rites were sub- 
versive of the first principles of morality, and even of decency. 
The seeds of the disintegration which showed itself imme- 
diately upon the death of Solomon were sown during his life- 
time ; and it is only surprising that they did not come to light 
earlier and interfere more seriously with the prosperity of his 
long reign. 

On the death of Solomon, the disintegrating forces, already 
threatening the unity of the empire, received, through the folly 
of his successor, a sudden accession of strength, which pre- 
cipitated the catastrophe. Rehoboam, entreated to lighten the 
burdens of the Israelites, declared his intention of increasing 
their weight, and thus drove the bulk of his native subjects 
into rebellion. The disunion of the conquering people gave 
the conquered tribes an opportunity of throwing off the yoke, 
whereof with few exceptions they availed themselves. In lieu 
of the puissant State, which under David and Solomon took 
rank among the foremost powers of the earth, we have hence- 
forth to deal with two petty kingdoms of small account, the 
interest of whose history is religious rather than political. 

The kingdom of Israel, established by the revolt of Jero- 
boam, comprises ten out of the twelve tribes, and reaches from 
the borders of Damascus and Hamath to within ten miles of 
Jerusalem. It includes the whole of the trans-Jordanic terri- 
tory, and exercises lordship over the adjoining country of 



ANCIENT HISTORY 47 

Moab. The proportion of its population to that of Judah 
in the early times may be estimated as two to one. But the 
advantage of superior size, fertility, and population is counter- 
balanced by the inferiority of every Israelite capital to Jerusa- 
lem, and by the fundamental weakness of a government which, 
deserting purity of religion, adopts for expediency's sake an 
unauthorized and semi-idolatrous worship. In vain a succes- 
sion of Prophets, some of them endowed with extraordinary 
miraculous power, struggled against this fatal taint. Idolatry, 
intertwined with the nation's life, could not be rooted out. 
One form of the evil led on to other and worse forms. The 
national strength was sapped ; and it scarcely required an 
attack from without to bring the State to dissolution. The 
actual fall, however, is produced B.C. 721, by the growing 
power of Assyria, which has even at an earlier date forced some 
of the monarchs to pay tribute. 

The separate kingdom of Judah, commencing at the same 
date with that of Israel, outlasted it by considerably more than 
a century. Composed of two entire tribes only, with refugees 
from the remainder, and confined to the lower and less fertile 
portion of the Holy Land, it compensated for these disadvan- 
tages by its compactness, its unity, the strong position of its 
capital, and the indomitable spirit of its inhabitants, who felt 
themselves the real " people of God," the true inheritors of the 
marvellous past, and the only rightful claimants of the greater 
marvels promised in the future. Surrounded as it was by 
petty enemies, Philistines, Arabians, Ammonites, Israelites, 
Syrians, and placed in the pathway between two mighty pow- 
ers, Assyria and Egypt, its existence was continually threat- 
ened ; but the valor of its people and the protection of Divine 
Providence preserved it intact during a space of nearly four 
centuries. In striking contrast with the sister kingdom of the 
North, it preserved during this long space, almost without a 
break, the hereditary succession of its kings, who followed one 
another in the direct line of descent, as long as there was no 
foreign intervention. Its elasticity in recovering from defeat 
is most remarkable. Though forced repeatedly to make ig- 
nominious terms of peace, though condemned to see on three 
occasions its capital in the occupation of an enemy, it rises 



48 



RAWLINSON 



from disaster with its strength seemingly unimpaired, defies 
Assyria in one reign, confronts Egypt in another, and is only 
crushed at last by the employment against it of the full force 
of the Babylonian empire. 



PART II.— AFRICAN NATIONS. 

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE GEOGRAPHY 
OF ANCIENT AFRICA. 

The continent of Africa offers a remarkable contrast to that 
of Asia in every important physical characteristic. Asia ex- 
tends itself through all three zones, the torrid, the frigid, and 
the temperate, and lies mainly in the last, or most favored of 
them. Africa belongs almost entirely to the torrid zone, ex- 
tending only a Uttle way north and south into those portions 
of the two temperate zones which lie nearest to the tropics. 
Asia has a coast deeply indented with numerous bays and 
gulfs ; Africa has but one considerable indentation — the Gulf 
of Guinea on its western side. Asia, again, is traversed by fre- 
quent and lofty mountain chains, the sources from which flow 
numerous rivers of first-rate magnitude. Africa has but two 
great rivers, the Nile and the Niger, and is deficient in moun- 
tains of high elevation. Finally, Asia possesses numerous lit- 
toral islands of a large size ; Africa has but one such island, 
Madagascar ; and even the islets which lie off its coast are, 
comparatively speaking, few. 

Its equatorial position, its low elevation, and its want of im- 
portant rivers, render Africa the hottest, the dryest, and the 
most infertile of the four continents. In the north a sea of 
sand, known as the Sahara, stretches from east to west across 
the entire continent from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and 
occupies fully one-fifth of its surface. Smaller tracts of an 
almost equally arid character occur towards the south. Much 
of the interior consists of swampy jungle, impervious, and fatal 
to human life. The physical characteristics of the continent 
render it generally unapt for civilization or for the growth of 
great states : it is only in a few regions that Nature wears 
a more benignant aspect, and offers conditions favorable to 
human progress. These regions are chiefly in the north and 
4 49 



50 RAWLINSON 

the north-east, in the near vicinity of the Mediterranean and 
the Red Sea. 

It was only the more northern part of Africa that was known 
to the ancients, or that had any direct bearing on the history 
of the ancient world. Here the geographical features were 
very marked and striking. First, there lay close along the 
sea-shore a narrow strip of generally fertile territory, watered 
by streams which emptied themselves into the Mediterranean. 
South of this was a tract of rocky mountain, less fitted for 
human habitation, though in places producing abundance of 
dates. Thirdly, came the Great Desert, interspersed with 
oases — islands in the sea of sand containing springs of water 
and a flourishing vegetation. Below the Sahara, and com- 
pletely separated by it from any political contact with the coun- 
tries of the north, but crossed occasionally by caravans for 
purposes of commerce, was a second fertile region — a land 
of large rivers and lakes, where there were cities and a numer- 
ous population. 

The western portion of North Africa stood, in some respects, 
in marked contrast with the eastern. Towards the east the 
fertile coast-tract is in general exceedingly narrow, and spar- 
ingly watered by a small number of insignificant streams. The 
range of bare rocky hills from which they flow — the continua- 
tion of Atlas — is of low elevation ; and the Great Desert often 
approaches within a very short distance of the coast. Towards 
the west the lofty range of Atlas, running at a considerable 
distance (200 miles) from the shore, allows a broad tract of 
fertile ground to intervene between its crest and the sea. The 
range itself is well wooded, and gives birth to many rivers of 
a fair size. Here states of importance may grow up, for the 
resources of the tract are great ; the soil is good ; the climate 
not insalubrious ; but towards the east Nature has been a 
niggard; and, from long. 10° E. nearly to long. 30°, there 
is not a single position where even a second-rate state could 
long maintain itself. 

The description of North Africa, which has been here given, 
holds good as far as long. 30° ; but east of this line there com- 
mences another and very different region. From the high- 
lands of Abyssinia and the great reservoirs on the line of the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 51 

equator, the Nile rolls down its vast body of waters with a 
course whose general direction is from south to north, and, 
meeting the Desert, flows across it in a mighty stream, which 
renders this corner of the continent the richest and most valu- 
able of all the tracts contained in it. The Nile valley is 3000 
miles long, and, in its upper portion, of unknown width. When 
it enters the Desert, about lat. 16°, its width contracts; and 
from the sixth cataract down to Cairo, the average breadth of 
the cultivable soil does not exceed fifteen miles. This soil, 
however, is of the best possible quality ; and the possession 
of the strip on either side of the river, and of the broader tract 
known as the Delta, about its mouth, naturally constitutes 
the power which holds it a great and important state. The 
proximity of this part of Africa to Western Asia and to Europe, 
its healthiness and comparatively temperate climate, likewise 
favored the development in this region of an early civilization 
and the formation of a monarchy which played an important 
part in the history of the ancient world. 

Above the point at which the Nile enters the Desert, on the 
right or east bank of the stream, occurs another tract, physi- 
cally very remarkable, and capable of becoming politically of 
high consideration. Here there is interposed between the main 
stream of the Nile and the Red Sea an elevated table-land, 8000 
feet above the ocean-level, surrounded and intersected by 
mountains, which rise in places to the height of 15,000 feet. 
These lofty masses attract and condense the vapors that float 
in from the neighboring sea ; and the country is thus subject 
to violent rains, which during the summer months fill the river- 
courses, and, flowing down them to the Nile, are the cause of 
that stream's periodical overflow, and so of the rich fertility 
of Egypt. The abundance of moisture renders the plateau 
generally productive ; and the region, which may be regarded 
as containing from 200,000 to 250,000 square miles, is thus 
one well capable of nourishing and sustaining a power of the 
first magnitude. 

The nations inhabiting Northern Africa in the times an- 
terior to Cyrus were, according to the belief of the Greeks, 
five. These were the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Greeks, 
the Phoenicians, and the Libyans. 



52 RAWLINSON 



EGYPT. 

To the Egyptians belonged the Nile valley from lat. 24° to 
the coast, together with the barren region between that valley 
and the Red Sea, and the fertile tract of the Faioom about 
Moeris, on the opposite side of the stream. Its most important 
portion was the Delta, which contained about 8000 square 
miles, and was studded with cities of note. The chief towns 
were, however, in the narrow valley. These were Memphis, 
not much above the apex of the Delta, and Thebes, about lat. 
26°. Besides these, the places of importance were, in Upper 
Egypt, Elephantine and Chemmis, or Panopolis ; in the lower 
country, Heliopolis, Sais, Sebennytus, Mendes, Tanis, Bubas- 
tis, and Pelusium. The Nile was the only Egyptian river ; but 
at the distance of about ninety miles from the sea, the great 
stream divided itself into three distinct channels, known as the 
Canobic, the Sebennytic, and the Pelusiac branches, while, 
lower down, these channels further subdivided themselves, so 
that in the time of Herodotus the Nile waters reached the 
Mediterranean by seven distinct mouths. Egypt had one large 
and several smaller lakes. The large lake, known by the name 
of Moeris, lay on the west side of the Nile, in lat. 29° 50'. 
It was believed to be artificial, but was really a natural de- 
pression. 

ETHIOPIA. 

The Ethiopians held the valley of the Nile above Egypt, and 
the whole of the plateau from which descend the great Nile 
afifluents, the modern country of Abyssinia. Their chief city 
was Meroe. Little was known of the tract by the ancients; 
but it was believed to be excessively rich in gold. A tribe 
called Troglodyte Ethiopians — i. e., Ethiopians who burrowed 
underground — is mentioned as inhabiting the Sahara where 
it adjoins upon Fezzan. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 53 



GREEK SETTLEMENTS. 

The Greeks had colonized the portion of North Africa which 
approached most nearly to the Peloponnese, having settled at 
Cyrene about B. C. 630, and at Barca about seventy years after- 
wards. They had also a colony at Naucratis in Egypt, and 
perhaps a settlement at the greater Oasis. 

LIBYANS. 

The Libyans possessed the greater part of Northern Africa, 
extending, as they did, from the borders of Egypt to the At- 
lantic Ocean, and from the Mediterranean to the Great Desert. 
They were divided into a number of tribes, among which the 
following were the most remarkable : the Adyrmachidse, who 
bordered on Egypt, the Nasamonians on the greater Syrtis, 
the Garamantes in the modern Fezzan, and the Atlantes in 
the range of Atlas. Most of these races were nomadic ; but 
some of the more western cultivated the soil, and, consequently, 
had fixed abodes. Politically, all these tribes were excessively 
weak. 

CARTHAGE. 

The Carthaginians, or Liby-Phoenicians — immigrants into 
Africa, like the Greeks — had fixed themselves in the fertile 
region north of the Atlas chain, at the point where it approaches 
nearest to Sicily. Here in a cluster lay the important towns 
of Carthage, Utica, Hippo Zaritus, Tunis, and Zama Regia, 
while a little removed were Adrumetum, Leptis, and Hippo 
Regius. The entire tract was fertile and well watered, inter- 
sected by numerous ranges, spurs from the main chain of 
Atlas. Its principal river was the Bagrada (now Majerdah), 
which emptied itself into the sea a little to the north-west of 
Carthage. The entire coast was indented by numerous bays ; 
and excellent land-locked harbors were formed by salt lakes 
connected with the sea by narrow channels. Such was the 
Hipponites Palus (L. Benzart) near Hippo Zaritus, and the 
great harbor of Carthage, now that of Tunis. Next to the 



54 



RAWLINSON 



Nile valley, this was the portion of Northern Africa most fa- 
vored by Nature, and best suited for the habitation of a great 
power. 

The early estabhshment of monarchical -government in 
Egypt is indicated in Scripture by the mention of a Pharaoh 
as contemporary with Abraham. The full account which is 
given of the general character of the kingdom administered 
by Joseph suggests as the era of its foundation a date consid- 
erably more ancient than that of Abraham's visit. The priests 
themselves claimed for the monarchy, in the time of Herodo- 
tus, an antiquity of above ii,ooo years. Manetho, writing 
after the reduction of his country by the Macedonians, was 
more moderate, assigning to the thirty dynasties which, ac- 
cording to him, preceded the Macedonian conquest, a number 
of years amounting in the aggregate to rather more than 5000. 
The several items which produce this amount may be correct, 
or nearly so; but, if their sum is assumed as measuring the 
duration of the monarchy, the calculation will be largely in 
excess; for the Egyptian monuments show that Manetho's 
dynasties were often reigning at the same time in different 
parts of the country. The difficulty of determining the true 
chronology of early Egypt arises from an uncertainty as to 
the extent to which Manetho's dynasties were contemporary. 
The monuments prove a certain amount of contemporaneity. 
But it is unreasonable to suppose that they exhaust the subject, 
or do more than indicate a practice the extent of which must 
be determined, partly by examination of our documents, partly 
by reasonable conjecture. 

A careful examination of the names and numbers in Mane- 
tho's lists, and a laborious investigation of the monuments, 
have led the best English Egyptologers to construct, or adopt, 
the subjoined scheme, as that which best expresses the real 
position in which Manetho's first seventeen dynasties stood 
to one another. 

It will be seen that, according to this scheme, there were 
in Egypt during the early period, at one time two, at another 
three, at another five or even six, parallel or contemporaneous 
kingdoms, established in different parts of the country. For 
example, while the first and second dynasties of Manetho were 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



55 



About 

B.C. 

2700 



1700 
1600 



ISt 

Dynasty, 
Thinite. 



Dynasty, 
Memphite. 



4th I 5th 
Dynasty, Dynasty, 
Memphite. Elephan- 
tine. 



6th 
Dynasty, 
Memphite. 



Tth and 8th 
Dynasties, 
Memphite. 



9th 
Dynasty, 
Heracle- 
opolite. 



nth 
Dynasty, 
Thebans. 



i2th 14th 

Dynasty, Dynasty, 
Thebans. Xoites. 



loth 
E)y nasty, 
Heracle- 
opolite. 



13th 
Dynasty, 
Thebans. 



15th 
Dynasty, 
Shepherds. 



17th 
Dynasty, 
Shepherds. 



1 6th 
Dynasty, 
Shepherds. 



ruling at This, his third, fourth, and sixth bore sway at Mem- 
phis ; and, during a portion of this time, his fifth dynasty was 
ruHng at Elephantine, his ninth at Heracleopolis, and his elev- 
enth at Thebes or Diospolis. And the same general condition 
of things prevailed till near the close of the sixteenth century 
B.C., when Egypt was, probably for the first time, united into 
a single kingdom, ruled from the one centre, Thebes. 
■ It is doubtful how far the names and numbers in Mane- 
tho's first and third dynasties are historical. The correspond- 
ence of the name, Menes (M'na), with that of other traditional 
founders of nations, or first men — with the Manes of Lydia, 
the Phrygian Manis, the Cretan Minos, the Indian Menu, the 
German Mannus, and the like — raises a suspicion that here too 
we are dealing with a fictitious personage, an ideal and not 



56 



RAWUNSON 



a real founder. The improbably long reign assigned to M'na 
(sixty or sixty-two years), and his strange death — he is said 
to have been killed by a hippopotamus — increase the doubt 
which the name causes. M'na's son and successor, Athothis 
(Thoth), the Egyptian ^sculapius, seems to be equally myth- 
ical. The other names are such as may liave been borne by 
real kings, and it is possible that in Manetho's time they existed 
on monuments ; but the chronology, which, in the case of the 
first dynasty, gives an average of thirty-two or thirty-three 
years to a reign, is evidently in excess, and can not be trusted. 



First Dynasty (Thinite). 


Third Dynasty (Memphite). 


Kings. 


Years. 


Kings. 


Years. 


Euseb. 


Afric. 


Euseb. 


Afric. 


I. Menes 


60 
27 

39 
42 
20 
26 
18 
26 


62 

57 
31 
23 
20 
26 
18 
26 


1. Necherophes 

2. Tosorthrus 

3. Tyreis 




28 


2. Athothis (his son). , . 

3. Kenkenes (his son). . 


29 

7 


4. Uenephes (his son) . 

5. Usaphasdus (his son) 

6. Miebidus (his son) . . 

7. Semempses (his son). 

8. Bieneches (his son) . . 


4. Mesochris 


17 


5. Suphis 


16 


6. Tosertasis 


IQ 


7. Aches 


42 


8. Sephuris 


30 

26 


9. Kerpheres 










258 


263 


298 


214 



With Manetho's second and fourth dynasties we reach the 
time of contemporary monuments, and feel ourselves on sure 
historical ground. The tomb of Koeechus (Ke-ke-ou), the 
second king of the second dynasty, has been found near the 
pyramids of Gizeh ; and Soris (Shure), Suphis I. (Shufu), 
Suphis II. (Nou-shufu), and Mencheres (Men-ka-re), the first 
four kings of the fourth, are known to us from several inscrip- 
tions. There is distinct monumental evidence that the second, 
fourth, and fifth dynasties were contemporary. The fourth was 
the principal one of the three, and bore sway at Memphis over 
Lower Egypt, while the second ruled Middle Egypt from 
This, and the fifth Upper Egypt from Elephantine. Probably 
the kings of the second and fifth dynasties were connected by 
blood with those of the fourth, and held their respective crowns 
by permission of the Memphite sovereigns. The tombs of 



ANCIENT HISTORY 57 

monarchs belonging to all three dynasties exist in the neigh- 
borhood of Memphis ; and there is even some doubt whether 
a king of the fifth, Shafre, was not the true founder of the 
" Second Pyramid " near that city. 

The date of the establishment at Memphis of the fourth 
dynasty is given variously as B.C. 3209 (Bunsen), B.C. 2450 
(Wilkinson), and B.C. 2440 (Poole). And the time during 
which it occupied the throne is estimated variously at 240, 210, 
and 155 years. The Egyptian practice of association is a fertile 
source of chronological confusion ; and all estimates of the 
duration of a dynasty, so long as the practice continued, are 
mainly conjectural. Still the comparatively low dates of the 
English Egyptologers are on every ground preferable to the 
higher dates of the Germans ; and the safest conclusion that 
can be drawn from a comparison of Manetho with the monu- 
ments seems to be, that a powerful monarchy was established 
at Memphis as early as the middle of the twenty-fifth century 
B.C., which was in some sort paramount over the whole 
country. 

It is evident from the monuments that the civilization of 
Egypt at this early date was in many respects of an advanced 
order. A high degree of mechanical science and skill is im- 
plied in the quarrying, transporting, and raising into place of 
the huge blocks whereof the pyramids are composed, and con- 
siderable mathematical knowledge in the emplacement of each 
pyramid so as exactly to face the cardinal points. Writing 
appears in no rudimentary form, but in such a shape as to 
imply long use. Besides the hieroglyphics, which are well and 
accurately cut, a cursive character is seen on some of the 
blocks, the precursor of the later hieratic. The reed-pen and 
inkstand are among the hieroglyphics employed ; and the 
scribe appears, pen in hand, in the paintings on the tombs, 
making notes on linen or papyrus. The drawing of human 
and animal figures is fully equal, if not superior, to that of 
later times ; and the trades represented are nearly the same 
as are found under the Ramesside kings. Altogether it is 
apparent that the Egyptians of the Pyramid period were not 
just emerging out of barbarism, but were a people who had 
made very considerable progress in the arts of life. 



58 



RAWLINSON 



The governmental system was not of the simple character 
which is found in kingdoms recently formed out of village or 
tribe communities, but had a complicated organization of the 
sort which usually grows up with time. Egypt was divided 
into nomes, each of which had its governor. The military and 
civil services were separate, and each possessed various grades 
and kinds of functionaries. The priest caste was as distinct 
as in later times, and performed much the same duties. 

Aggressive war had begun to be waged. The mineral treas- 
ures of the Sinaitic peninsula excited the cupidity of the Mem- 
phitic kings, and Soris, the first king of the dynasty, seems 
to have conquered and occupied it. The copper mines of Wady 
Maghara and Sarabit-el-Kadim were worked by the great Pyr- 
amid monarchs, whose operations there were evidently exten- 
sive. Whether there is any ground for regarding the kinds 
in question as especially tyrannical, may perhaps be doubted. 
One of them was said to have written a sacred book, and an- 
other (according to Herodotus) had the character of a mild 
and good monarch. The pyramids may have been built by the 
labor of captives taken in war, in which case the native popu- 
lation would not have suffered by their erection. 

CONTEMPORARY DYNASTIES FROM ABOUT B.C. 2440 TO 2220. 



Branch Dynasty. 
II. Thinite. 



Yrs. 

1. Boethus or Bochus 38 

2. Koeechus (Ke-ke- 

ou)... 39 

3. Binothris 47 

4. Tlas 17 

5. Sethenes 41 

6. Chseres 17 

7. Nephercheres 25 

8. Sesochris 48 

9. Cheneres 30 



302 



Chief or Stem Dynasty. 
IV. Memphite. 



Yrs. 

1. Soris 29 

2. Suphis I ") 

3. Suphis II. (broth- >66 

er) ) 

4. Mencheres (son of 

Suphis I.) 63 

5. Ratoises 25 

6. Bicheris 22 

7. Sebercheres 7 

8. Thamphthis 9 



Branch Dynasty. V. Ele- 
phantine. 



Yrs. 

1. Usercheres (Osir- 

kef) 28 

2. Sephres (Shafre) . . 13 

3. Nephercheres 

(Nofr-ir-ke-re) . . 20 

4. Sisires (Osir-n-re). 7 

5. Cheres 20 

6. Rathures 44 

7. Mencheres 9 

8. Tancheres 44 

9. Onnus (U-nas). ... 33 

218 



The fourth or " pyramid " dynasty was succeeded at Mem- 
phis by the sixth Manethonian dynasty, about B.C. 2220. The 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



59 



second and fifth still bore sway at This and Elephantine ; while 
wholly new and probably independent dynasties now started 
up at Heracleopolis and Thebes. The Memphitic kings lost 
their pre-eminence. Egypt was broken up into really separate 
kingdoms, among which the Theban gradually became the 
most powerful. 

CONTEMPORARY DYNASTIES FROM ABOUT B.C. 2230 TO 2080. 



II. 

Thinitk. 


VI. Memphite. 


V. Elephantine. 


IX. Hera- 

CLEOPOI.ITE. 


XI. Theban. 


(Continuing 
under the 
last three 
kings. ^ 


Yrs. 

I. Othoes 30 

[2. Phios.. 53 

3. Methosuphis 7] 

4. Phiops (Pepi) 100 

5. Menthesuphis i 

6. Nitocris(Neit akret) 12 

143 


(Continuing. ) 


Achthoes 

(Muntopt I. 

Series of 

Enentefs. 

Muntopt II.). 


Sixteen kings. 

17. Ammenemes 
(Amun-m-h^). 



The weakness of Egypt, thus parcelled out into five king- 
doms, tempted foreign attack ; and, about B.C. 2080, or a little 
later, a powerful enemy entered Lower Egypt from the north- 
east, and succeeded in destroying the Memphite kingdom, and 
obtaining possession of almost the whole country below lat. 
29° 30'. These were the so-called Hyk-sos, or Shepherd Kings, 
nomades from either Syria or Arabia, who exercised with ex- 
treme severity all the rights of conquerors, burning the cities, 
razing the temples to the ground, exterminating the male 
Egyptian population, and making slaves of the women and 
children. There is reason to believe that at least two Shepherd 
dynasties (Manetho's fifteenth and sixteenth) were established 
simultaneously in the conquered territory, the fifteenth reign- 
ing at Memphis, and the sixteenth either in the Delta, or at 
Avaris (Pelusium?). Native Egyptian dynasties continued, 
however, to hold much of the country. The ninth (Heracleop- 
olite) held the Faioom and the Nile valley southward as far 
as Hermopolis ; the twelfth bore sway at Thebes ; the fifth 
continued undisturbed at Elephantine. In the heart, more- 
over, of the Shepherd conquests, a new native kingdom sprang 
up ; and the fourteenth (Xoite) dynasty maintained itself 
throughout the whole period of Hyk-sos ascendency in the 
most central portion of the Delta. 



6o 



RAWLINSON 



CONTEMPORARY DYNASTIES FROM ABOUT B.C. 2080 TO 1900. 



V. Ele- 


IX. Hera- 


phantine. 


CLEOPOLITE. 


(Continuing 


(Continu- 


till about 


ing.) 


B.C. 1850.) 





XII. Theban. 



Yrs. 

I. Sesonchosis, son of 
Aramenemes (Se- 
sortasen I.) 46 

2.Ammenemes II. 
(Amun-m-he II.).. 38 

3. Sesostris (Sesorta- 

sen II.) 48 

4. [La]mares (Am-un- 

m-h^ III.) 8 

5. Ameres B 

6. Ammeneines III. 

(Amun-m-he IV.). 8 

7. Skemiophris (his sis- 

ter) 4 

160 
XIII. Theban. 



XIV. 

XOITE. 



Seventy- 
six kings 
in 484 
years. 



XV. 
Shepherds. 



Yrs. 

1. Salatis.. . 19 

2. Bnon .... 44 

3. Apachnas 36 

4. Apophis . 61 

5. J annas. .. 50 

6. Asses .... 49 

259 



XVI. 
Shepherds. 



Thirty 
kings in 
518 years. 



Simultaneously with the irruption of the Shepherds occurred 
an increase of the power of Thebes, which, under the monarchs 
of the twelfth dynasty, the Sesortasens and Amun-m-hes ac- 
quired a paramount authority over all Egypt from the borders 
of Ethiopia to the neighborhood of Memphis. The Elephan- 
tine and Heracleopolite dynasties, though continuing, became 
subordinate. Even Heliopolis, below Memphis, owned the 
authority of these powerful monarchs, who held the Sinaitic 
peninsula, and carried their arms into Arabia and Ethiopia. 
Amun-m-he III., who seems to be the Maris (or Lamaris) 
of Manetho and the Moeris of Herodotus, constructed the 
remarkable work in the Faioom known as the Labyrinth. Se- 
sortasen I. built numerous temples, and erected an obelisk. 
Architecture and the arts generally flourished ; irrigation was 
extended ; and the oppression of Lower Egypt under the rude 
Shepherd kings seemed for a considerable time to have aug- 
mented, rather than diminished, the prosperity of the Upper 
country. 

But darker days arrived. The Theban monarchs of the thir- 
teenth dynasty, less warlike or less fortunate than their prede- 
cessors, found themselves unable to resist the terrible Shep- 
herds, and, quitting their capital, fled into Ethiopia, while 
the invaders wreaked their vengeance on the memorials of the 
Sesortasens. Probably, after a while, the refugees returned 



ANCIENT HISTORY 6i 

and took up the position of tributaries, a position which must 
also have been occupied by all the other native monarchs who 
still maintained themselves, excepting possibly the Xoites, 
who may have found the marshes of the Delta an effectual 
protection. The complete establishment of the authority of 
the Shepherds may be dated about B.C. 1900. Their do- 
minion lasted till about B.C. 1525. The seventh and eighth 
(Memphitic) dynasties, the tenth (Heracleopolite), and the 
seventeenth (Shepherd) belong to this interval. This is the 
darkest period of Egyptian history. The Shepherds left no 
monuments ; and during nearly 300 years the very names of 
the kings are unknown to us. 

A new day breaks upon us with the accession to power of 
Manetho's eighteenth dynasty, about B.C. 1525. A great na- 
tional movement, headed by Amosis (Ames or Aahmes), king 
of the Thebaid, drove the foreign invaders, after a stout con- 
flict, from the soil of Egypt, and, releasing the country from the 
incubus which had so long lain upon it, allowed the genius of 
the people free play. The most flourishing period of Egyptian 
history followed. The Theban king, who had led the move- 
ment, received as his reward the supreme authority over the 
whole country, a right which was inherited by his successors. 
Egypt was henceforth, until the time of the Ethiopic conquest, 
a single centralized monarchy. Contemporary dynasties 
ceased. Egyptian art attained its highest perfection. The 
great temple-palaces of Thebes were built. Numerous obelisks 
were erected. Internal prosperity led to aggressive wars. 
Ethiopia, Arabia, and Syria were invaded. The Euphrates 
was crossed; and a portion of Mesopotamia added to the 
empire. 

The decline of Egypt under the twentieth dynasty is very 
marked. We can ascribe it to nothing but internal decay — 
a decay proceeding mainly from those natural causes which 
are always at work, compelling nations and races, like indi- 
viduals, after they have reached maturity, to sink in vital force, 
to become debilitated, and finally to perish. Under the nine- 
teenth dynasty Egypt reached her highest pitch of greatness, 
internal and external; under the twentieth she rapidly sank, 
alike in military power, in artistic genius, and in taste. For 



62 RAWLINSON 

a space of almost two centuries, from about B.C. 1170 to 990, 
she scarcely undertook a single important enterprise; her 
architectural efforts during the whole of this time were mean, 
and her art without spirit or life. Subsequently, in the space 
between B.C. 990 and the Persian conquest, B.C. 525, she 
experienced one or two " revivals ; " but the reaction on these 
occasions, being spasmodic and forced, exhausted rather than 
recruited her strength ; nor did the efforts made, great as they 
were, sufftce to do more than check for a while the decadence 
which they could not avert. 

Among the special causes which produced this unusually 
rapid decline, the foremost place must be assigned to the spirit 
of caste, and particularly to the undue predominance of the 
sacerdotal order. It is true that castes, in the strict sense of 
the word, did not exist in Egypt, since a son was not abso- 
lutely compelled to follow his father's profession. But the 
separation of classes was so sharply and clearly defined, the 
hereditary descent of professions was so much the rule, that the 
system closely approximated to that which has been so long 
established in India, and which prevails there at the present 
day. It had, in fact, all the evils of caste. It discouraged prog- 
ress, advance, improvement ; it repressed personal ambition ; 
it produced deadness, flatness, dull and tame uniformity. The 
priestly influence, which pervaded all ranks from the highest 
to the lowest, was used to maintain a conventional standard, 
alike in thought, in art, and in manners. Any tendency to 
deviate from the set forms of the old religion, that at any time 
showed itself, was sternly checked. The inclination of art to 
become naturalistic was curbed and subdued. All intercourse 
with foreigners, which might have introduced changes of man- 
ners, was forbidden. The aim was to maintain things at a 
certain set level, which was fixed and unalterable. But, as 
" non progredi est regredi," the result of repressing all advance 
and improvement was to bring about a rapid and general de- 
terioration. 

The growing influence of the priests, which seems to have 
reduced the later monarchs of the twentieth dynasty to 
faineants, was shown still more markedly in the accession to 
power, about B.C. 1085, of the priestly dynasty of " Tanites," 



ANCIENT HISTORY 63 

who occupy the twenty-first place in Manetho's Hst. These 
kings, who style themselves " High-priests of Amun," and 
who wear the priestly costume, seem to have held their court 
at Tanis (Zoan), in the Delta, but were acknowledged for 
kings equally in Upper Egypt. It must have been to one of 
them that Hadad fled when Joab slaughtered the Edomites, 
and in their ranks also must be sought the Pharaoh who gave 
his daughter in marriage to Solomon. According to Manetho, 
the dynasty held the throne for rather more than a hundred 
years ; but the computation is thought to be in excess. 

With Sheshonk, the first king of the twenty-second dynasty, 
a revival of Egyptian power to a certain extent occurred. 
Though Sheshonk himself takes the title of " High-priest of 
Amun," having married the daughter of Pisham H., the last 
king of the sacerdotal (twenty-first) dynasty, yet beyond this 
no priestly character attaches to the monarchs of his house. 
Sheshonk resumes the practice of military expeditions, and 
his example is followed by one of the Osorkons. Monuments 
of some pretensions are erected by the kings of the line, at 
Thebes and at Bubastis in the Delta, which latter is the royal 
city of the time. The revival, however, is partial and short- 
lived, the later monarchs of the dynasty being as undistin- 
guished as any that had preceded them on the throne. 

The decline of the monarchy advanced now with rapid 
strides. On the death of Takelot H., a disintegration of the 
kingdom seems to have taken place. While the Bubastite line 
was carried on in a third Pisham (or Pishai) and a fourth 
Sheshonk, a rival line, Manetho's twenty-third dynasty, sprang 
up at Tanis, and obtained the chief power. The kings of this 
line, who are four in number, are wholly undistinguished. 

A transfer of the seat of empire to Sais, another city of the 
Delta, now took place. A king whom Manetho and Diodorus 
called Bocchoris (perhaps Pehor) ascended the throne. This 
monarch, after he had reigned forty-four years — either as an 
independent prince or as a tributary to Ethiopia — was put to 
death by Sabaco, an Ethiopian, who conquered Egypt and 
founded the twenty-fifth dynasty. 

Thus it appears that between B.C. 730 and 665 Egypt was 
conquered twice — first by the Ethiopians, and then, within 



64 RAWLINSON 

about sixty years, by the Assyrians. The native Egyptian 
army had grown to be weak and contemptible, from a prac- 
tice, which sprang up under the Sheshonks, of employing 
mainly foreign troops in military expeditions. There was also 
(as has been observed already) a general decline of the national 
spirit, which made submission to a foreign yoke less galling 
than it would have been at an earlier date. 

It is difficult to say at what exact time the yoke of Assyria 
was thrown ofif. Psammetichus (Psamatik I.), who seems to 
have succeeded his father, Nechoh, or to have been associated 
by him, almost immediately after his (Nechoh's) establishment 
as viceroy by Asshur-bani-pal, counted his reign from the 
abdication of Tirhakah, as if he had from that time been inde- 
pendent and sole king. But there can be little doubt that in 
reality for several years he was merely one of many rulers, 
all equally subject to the great monarch of Assyria. The revolt 
which he headed may have happened in the reign of Asshur- 
bani-pal; but, more probably, it fell in that of his successor. 
Perhaps its true cause was the shattering of Assyrian power 
by the invasion of the Scyths, about B.C. 632. Psammetichus, 
by the aid of Greek mercenaries, and (apparently) after some 
opposition from his brother viceroys, made himself indepen- 
dent, and established his dominion over the whole of Egypt. 
Native rule was thus restored after nearly a century of foreign 
domination. 

The revolts of Egypt from Persia will necessarily come under 
consideration in the section on the Achaemenian Monarchy, 
Egypt was the most disaffected of all the Persian provinces, 
and was always striving after independence. Her antagonism 
to Persia seems to have been less political than polemical. 
It was no doubt fermented by the priests. On two occasions 
independence was so far achieved that native rulers were set 
up ; and Manetho counts three native dynasties as interrupting 
the regular succession of the Persians. These form the twenty- 
eighth, the twenty-ninth, and the thirtieth of his series. The 
first of these consists of one king only, Amyrtaeus, who revolted 
in conjunction with Inarus, and reigned from B.C. 460 to 455- 
The other two dynasties are consecutive, and cover the space 
from the revolt in the reign of Darius Nothus (B.C. 405) to 
the re-conquest under Ochus (B.C. 346). 



ANCIENT HISTORY 65 



CARTHAGE. 

The history of Carthage may be conveniently divided into 
three periods — the first extending from the foundation of the 
city to the commencement of the wars with Syracuse, B.C. 
850 to 480 ; the next from the first attack on Syracuse to the 
breaking out of war with Rome, B.C. 480 to 264; and the 
third from the commencement of the Roman wars to their 
termination by the destruction of Carthage, B.C. 264 to 146. 
In the present place, only the first and second of these periods 
will be considered. 



FIRST PERIOD. 

From the Foundation of Carthage to the Commencement of 
the Wars with Syracuse, from about B.C. 850 to 480. 

The foundation of Carthage, which was mentioned in the 
Tyrian histories, belonged to the time of Pygmalion, the son 
of Matgen, who seems to have reigned from about B.C. 871 
to 824. The colony appears to have taken its rise, not from 
the mere commercial spirit in which other Tyrian settlements 
on the same coast had originated, but from political differ- 
ences. Still, its relations with the mother city were, from first 
to last, friendly; though the bonds of union were under the 
Phoenician system of colonization even weaker and looser than 
under the Greek. The site chosen for the settlement was a 
peninsula, projecting eastward into the Gulf of Tunis, and 
connected with the mainland towards the west by an isthmus 
about three miles across. Here were some excellent land- 
locked harbors, a position easily defensible, and a soil which 
was fairly fertile. The settlement was made with the good- 
will of the natives, who understood the benefits of commerce, 
and gladly let to the new-comers a portion of their soil at a 
fixed rent. For many years the place must have been one 
of small importance, little (if at all) superior to Utica or Hadru- 
metum ; but by degrees an advance was made, and within a 
century or two from the date of her foundation, Carthage had 
5 



66 RAWLINSON 

become a considerable power, had shot ahead of all the other 
Phoenician settlements in these parts, and had acquired a large 
and valuable dominion. 

The steps of the advance are somewhat difficult to trace. It 
would seem, however, that, unlike the other Phoenician col- 
onies, and unlike the Phoenician cities of the Asiatic mainland 
themselves, Carthage aimed from the first at uniting a land 
with a sea dominion. The native tribes in the neighborhood 
of the city, originally nomades, were early won to agricultural 
occupations ; Carthaginian colonies were thickly planted 
among them; intermarriages between the colonists and the 
native races were encouraged; and a mixed people grew up 
in the fertile territory south and south-west of Carthage, known 
as Liby-Phoenices, who adopted the language and habits of the 
immigrants, and readily took up the position of faithful and 
attached subjects. Beyond the range of territory thus occu- 
pied, Carthaginian influence was further extended over a large 
number of pure African tribes, of whom some applied them- 
selves to agriculture, while the majority preserved their old 
nomadic mode of life. These tribes, like the Arabs in the 
modern Algeria, were held in a loose and almost nominal sub- 
jection ; but still were reckoned as, in a certain sense, Cartha- 
ginian subjects, and no doubt contributed to the resources of 
the empire. The proper territory of Carthage was regarded 
as extending southward as far as the Lake Triton, and west- 
ward to the river Tusca, which divided Zeugitana from Nu- 
midia, thus nearly coinciding with the modern Beylik of Tunis. 

But these limits were far from contenting the ambition of 
the Carthaginians. From the compact and valuable territory 
above described, they proceeded to bring within the scope of 
their influence the tracts which lay beyond it eastward and 
westward. The authority of Carthage came gradually to be 
acknowledged by all the coast-tribes between the Tusca and 
the Pillars of Hercules, as well as by the various nomad races 
between Lake Triton and the territory of Cyrene. In the 
former tract numerous settlements were made, and a right 
of marching troops along the shore was claimed and exercised. 
From the latter only commercial advantages were derived; 
but these were probably of considerable importance. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 67 

In considering the position of the Carthaginians in Africa, 
it must not be forgotten that the Phoenicians had founded nu- 
merous settlements on the African mainland, and that Car- 
thage was only the most powerful of these colonies. Utica, 
Hadrumetum, Leptis Magna, and other places, were at the 
first independent communities over which Carthage had no 
more right to exercise authority than they had over her. The 
dominion of Carthage seems to have been by degrees extended 
over these places ; but to the last some of them, more especially 
Utica, retained a certain degree of independence; and, so far 
as these settlements are concerned, we must view Carthage 
rather as the head of a confederacy than as a single centralized 
power. Her confederates were too weak to resist her or to 
exercise much check upon her policy; but she had the dis- 
advantage of being less than absolute mistress of many places 
lying within her territory. 

But the want of complete unity at home did not prevent 
her from aspiring after an extensive foreign dominion. Her 
influence was established in Western Sicily at an early date, 
and superseded in that region the still more ancient influence 
of Phoenicia. Sardinia was conquered, after long and bloody 
wars, towards the close of the sixth century B.C. The Balearic 
islands, Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, seem to have been occu- 
pied even earlier. At a later time, settlements were made in 
Corsica and Spain ; while the smaller islands, both of the Medi- 
terranean and the Atlantic, Madeira, the Canaries, Malta, Gau- 
los (Gozo), and Cercina, were easily subjugated. By the close 
of the sixth century, Carthaginian power extended from the 
greater Syrtis to the Fortunate Islands, and from Corsica to 
the flanks of Atlas. 

To effect her conquests, the great trading city had, almost 
of necessity, recourse to mercenaries. Mercenaries had been 
employed by the Egyptian monarchs as early as the time of 
Psammetichus (B.C. 664), and were known to Homer about 
two centuries previously. Besides the nucleus of a disciplined 
force which Carthage obtained from her own native citizens 
and from the mixed race of Liby-Phoenices, and besides the 
irregulars which she drew from her other subjects, it was her 
practice to maintain large bodies of hired troops {fita6o(^6pov<i), 



68 RAWLINSON 

derived partly from the independent African nations, such as 
the Numidians and the Mauritanians, partly from the warlike 
European races with which her foreign trade brought her into 
contact — the Iberians of Spain, the Celts of Gaul, and the Li- 
gurians of Northern Italy. The first evidence that we have of 
the existence of this practice belongs to the year B.C. 480; 
but there is sufficient reason to believe that it commenced con- 
siderably earlier. 

The naval power of Carthage must have dated from the 
foundation of the city ; for, as the sea in ancient times swarmed 
with pirates, an extensive commerce required and implies the 
possession of a powerful navy. For several centuries the great 
Phcenician settlement must have been almost undisputed mis- 
tress of the Western and Central Mediterranean, the only 
approach to a rival being Tyrrhenia, which was, however, de- 
cidedly inferior. The officers and sailors in the fleets were 
mostly native Carthaginians, while the rowers were mainly 
slaves, whom the State bred or bought for the purpose. 

Towards the middle of the sixth century B.C., the jealousy 
of the Carthaginians was aroused by the intrusion, into waters 
which they regarded as their own, of Greek commerce. The 
enterprising Phocseans opened a trade with Tartessus, founded 
Massilia near the mouth of the Rhone, and sought to establish 
themselves in Corsica in force. Hereupon Carthage, assisted 
by Tyrrhenia, destroyed the Phocsean fleet, about B.C. 550. 
Soon afterwards quarrels arose in Sicily between the Cartha- 
ginians and the Greek settlements there, provoked apparently 
by the latter. About the same time Rome, under the second 
Tarquin, became a flourishing kingdom, and a naval power 
of some consequence ; and Carthage, accustomed to maintain 
friendly relations with the Italians, concluded a treaty with 
the rising State, about B.C. 508. 

The constitution of Carthage, like that of most other great 
trading communities, was undoubtedly aristocratic. The na- 
tive element, located at Carthage, or in the immediate neigh- 
borhood, was the sole depositary of political power, and gov- 
erned at its will all the rest of the empire. Within this native 
element itself the chief distinction, which divided class from 
class, was that of wealth. The two Suffetes indeed, who stood 



ANCIENT HISTORY 69 

in a certain sense at the head of the State, seem to have been 
chosen only from certain families ; but otherwise all native 
Carthaginians were eligible to all offices. Practically what 
threw power into the hands of the rich was the fact that no 
office was salaried, and that thus the poor man could not afford 
to hold office. Public opinion was also strongly in favor of 
the rich. Candidates for power were expected to expend large 
sums of money, if not in actual bribery, yet at any rate in treat- 
ing on the most extensive scale. Thus office, and with it 
power, became the heritage of a certain knot of peculiarly 
wealthy families. 

At the head of the State were two Suflfetes, or Judges, who 
in the early times were Captains-general as well as chief civil 
magistrates, but whose office gradually came to be regarded 
as civil only and not military. These were elected by the citi- 
zens from certain families, probably for life. The next power 
in the State was the Council {a-vyK\7}T0'i),a body consisting of 
several hundreds, from which were appointed, directly or in- 
directly, almost all the officers of the government — as the Sen- 
ate of One Hundred (yepovaca), a Select Committee of the 
Council which directed all its proceedings; and the Pentar- 
chies, Commissions of Five Members each, which managed 
the various departments of State, and filled up vacancies in the 
Senate. The Council of One Hundred (or, with the two Suf- 
fetes and the two High-priests, 104) Judges, a High Court of 
Judicature elected by the people, was the most popular element 
in the Constitution ; but even its members were practically 
chosen from the upper classes, and their power was used rather 
to check the excessive ambition of individual members of the 
aristocracy than to augment the civil rights or improve the 
social condition of the people. The people, however, were 
contented. They elected the Suflfetes under certain restric- 
tions, and the generals freely ; they probably filled up vacancies 
in the Great Council ; and in cases where the Sufifetes and the 
Council dififered, they discussed and determined political meas- 
ures. Questions of peace and war, treaties, and the like, were 
frequently, though not necessarily, brought before them ; and 
the aristocratical character of the Constitution was maintained 
by the weight of popular opinion, which was in favor of power 



70 ■ RAVVLINSON 

resting with the rich. Through the openings which trade gave 
to enterprise any one might become rich ; and extreme poverty 
was ahiiost unknown, since no sooner did it appear than it 
was reheved by the planting of colonies and the allotment of 
waste lands to all who applied for them. 

As the power of Carthage depended mainly on her mainte- 
nance of huge armies of mercenaries, it was a necessity of her 
position that she should have a large and secure revenue. This 
she drew, in part from State property, particularly mines, in 
Spain and elsewhere; in part from tribute, which was paid 
alike by the federate cities (Utica, Hadrumetum, etc.), by the 
Liby-Phoenices, by the dependent African nomades, and by the 
provinces (Sardinia, Sicily, etc.) ; and in part from customs, 
which were exacted rigorously through all her dominions. 
The most elastic of these sources of revenue was the tribute, 
which was augmented or diminished as her needs required ; 
and which is said to have amounted sometimes to as much as 
fifty per cent, on the income of those subject to it. 

The extent of Carthaginian commerce is uncertain ; but 
there can be little doubt that it reached, at any rate, to the fol- 
lowing places : in the north, Cornwall and the Scilly Islands ; 
in the east, Phoenicia ; towards the west, Madeira, the Canaries, 
and the coast of Guinea; towards the south, Fezzan. It was 
chiefly a trade by which Carthage obtained the commodities 
that she needed — wine, oil, dates, salt fish, silphium, gold, tin, 
lead, salt, ivory, precious stones, and slaves ; exchanging 
against them their own manufactures — textile fabrics, hard- 
ware, pottery, ornaments for the person, harness for horses, 
tools, etc. But it was also to a considerable extent a carrying 
trade, whereby Carthage enabled the nations of Western 
Europe, Western Asia, and the interior of Africa to obtain 
respectively each other's products. It was in part a land, in 
part a sea traffic. While the Carthaginian merchants scoured 
the seas in all directions in their trading vessels, caravans di- 
rected by Carthaginian enterprise penetrated the Great Desert, 
and brought to Carthage from the south and the south-east 
the products of those far-ofif regions. Upper Egypt, Cyrene, 
the oases of the Sahara, Fezzan, perhaps Ethiopia and Bornou, 
carried on in this way a trafSc with the great commercial em- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 71 

porium. By sea her commerce was especially with Tyre, with 
her own colonies, with the nations of the Western Mediterra- 
nean, with the tribes of the African coast from the Pillars of 
Hercules to the Bight of Benin, and with the remote barbarians 
of South-western Albion. 



SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Wars with Syracuse to the 
breaking out of the first War with Rome, B.C. 480 to 264. 

The desire of the Carthaginians to obtain complete posses- 
sion of Sicily is in no way strange or surprising. Their pres- 
tige rested mainly on their maritime supremacy; and this 
supremacy was open to question, so long as the large island 
which lay closest to them and most directly opposite to their 
shores was mainly, or even to any great extent, under the in- 
fluence of aliens. The settlement of the Greeks in Sicily, about 
B.C. 750 to 700, preceded the rise of the Carthaginians to 
greatness ; and it must have been among the earliest objects 
of ambition of the last-named people, after they became power- 
ful, to drive the Hellenes from the island. It would seem, how- 
ever, that no great expedition had been made prior to B.C. 
480. Till then Carthage had been content to hold the western 
corner of the island only, and to repulse intruders into that 
region, like Dorieus. But in B.C. 480, when the expedition 
of Xerxes gave full occupation to the bulk of the Greek nation, 
Carthage conceived that the time was come at which she might 
expect to attack the Greeks of Sicily with success, and to con- 
quer them before they could receive succors from the mother 
country. Accordingly, a vast army was collected, and under 
Hamilcar, son of Mago, a great attack was made. But the 
victory of Gelo at Himera completely frustrated the expedition. 
Hamilcar fell or slew himself. The invading army was with- 
drawn, and Carthage consented to conclude an ignominious 
peace. 

The check thus received induced the Carthaginians to sus- 
pend for a while their designs against the coveted island. At- 
tention was turned to the consolidation of their African power ; 



72 RAVVLINSON 

and under Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Sappho, grandsons of 
Mago and nephews of Hamilcar, the native Libyan tribes were 
reduced to more complete dependence, and Carthage was re- 
leased from a tribute which she had hitherto paid as an ac- 
knowledgment that the site on which she stood was Libyan 
ground. A contest was also carried on with the Greek settle- 
ment of Cyrene, which terminated to the advantage of Car- 
thage. Anticipated danger from the excessive influence of 
the family of Mago was guarded against by the creation of the 
Great Council of Judges, before whom every general had to 
appear on his return from an expedition. 

It was seventy years after their first ignominious failure when 
the Carthaginians once more invaded Sicily in force. Invited 
by Egesta to assist her against Selinus, they crossed over with 
a vast fleet and army, under the command of Hannibal, the 
grandson of Hamilcar, B.C. 409, destroyed Selinus and Hi- 
mera, defeated the Greeks in several battles, and returned home 
in triumph. This first success was followed by wars (i) with 
Dionysius I., tyrant of Syracuse; (2) with Dionysius II. and 
Timoleon ; and (3) with Agathocles. 

The result of these wars was not, on the whole, encouraging. 
At the cost of several hundreds of thousands of men, of large 
fleets, and of an immense treasure, Carthage had succeeded in 
maintaining possession of about one-third of Sicily, but had 
not advanced her boundary by a single mile. Her armies had 
generally been defeated, if they engaged their enemy upon 
any thing like even terms. She had found her generals de- 
cidedly inferior to those of the Greeks. Above all, she had 
learnt that she was vulnerable at home — that descents might 
be made on her own shores, and that her African subjects 
were not to be depended on. Still, she did not relinquish her 
object. After the death of Agathocles in B.C. 289, the Hel- 
lenic power in Sicily rapidly declined. The Mamertines seized 
Messana; and Carthage, resuming an aggressive attitude, 
seemed on the point of obtaining all her desires. Agrigentum 
was once more taken, all the southern part of the island oc- 
cupied, and Syracuse itself threatened. But the landing of 
Pyrrhus at the invitation of Syracuse saved the city, and 
turned the fortune of war against Carthage, B.C. 279. His 



ANCIENT HISTORY 73 

flight, two years later, did not restore matters to their former 
condition. Carthage had contracted obhgations towards Syra- 
cuse in the war against Pyrrhus; and, moreover, a new contest 
was evidently, impending. The great aggressive power of the 
West, Rome, was about to appear upon the scene; and, to 
resist her, Carthage required the friendly co-operation of the 
Greeks. A treaty was consequently made with Hiero; and 
Carthage paused, biding her time, and still hoping at no dis- 
tant period to extend her domination over the entire island. 



BOOK II 

HISTORY OF PERSIA 



BOOK 11 

HISTORY OF PERSIA FROM THE ACCESSION OF CYRUS 
TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EMPIRE BY ALEX- 
ANDER, FROM B.C. 558 TO 330. 

The Persians appear to have formed a part of a great Arian 
migration from the countries about the Oxus, which began at 
a very remote time, but was not completed till about B.C. 650. 
The line of migration was first westward, along the Elburz 
range into Armenia and Azerbijan, then south along Zagros, 
and finally south-east into Persia Proper. The chief who first 
set up an Arian monarchy in this last-named region seems to 
have been a certain Achaemenes (Hakhamanish), who probably 
ascended the throne about a century before Cyrus. 

The nation was composed of two classes of persons — the 
settled population, which lived in towns or villages, for the 
most part cultivating the soil, and the pastoral tribes, whose 
habits were nomadic. The latter consisted of four divStinct 
tribes — the Dai, the Mardi, the Dropici or Derbices, and the 
Sagartii ; while the former comprised the six divisions of the 
Pasargadse, the Maraphii, the Maspii, the Panthialsei, the 
Derusiaei, and the Germanii or Carmanians. Of these, the first 
three were superior ; and a very marked precedency or pre- 
eminency attached to the Pasargadse. They formed a species 
of nobility, holding almost all the high offices both in the army 
and at the court. The royal family of the Achgemenidge, or 
descendants of Achaemenes, belonged to this leading tribe. 

A line of native Persian kings held the throne from Achae- 
menes to Cyrus; but the sovereignty which they possessed 
was not, at any rate in the times immediately preceding Cyrus, 
an independent dominion. Relations of a feudal character 
bound Persia to Media; and the Achaemenian princes, either 
from the first, or certainly from some time before Cyrus re- 

77 



78 RAWLINSON 

belled, acknowledged the Median monarch for their suzerain. 
Cyrus lived as a sort of hostage at the court of Astyages, and 
could not leave it without permission. Cambyses, his father, 
had the royal title, and, practically, governed Persia; but he 
was subject to Astyages, and probably paid him an annual 
tribute. 

The revolt of the Persians was not the consequence of their 
suffering any grievous oppression; nor did it even arise from 
any wide-spread discontent or dissatisfaction with their condi- 
tion. Its main cause was the ambition of Cyrus. That prince 
had seen, as he grew up at Ecbatana, that the strength of the 
Medes was undermined by luxury, that their old warlike habits 
were laid aside, and that, in all the qualities which make the 
soldier, they were no match for his own countrymen. He 
had learnt to despise the faineant monarch who occupied the 
Median throne. It occurred to him that it would be easy to 
make Persia an independent power; and this was probably all 
that he at first contemplated. But the fatal persistence of the 
Median monarch in attempts to reduce the rebels, and his 
capture in the second battle of Pasargadse, opened the way 
to greater changes; and the Persian prince, rising to a level 
with the occasion, pushed his own country into the imperial 
position from which the success of his revolt had dislodged 
the Medes. 

The warlike prince who thus conquered the Persian empire 
did little to organize it. Professing, probably, a purer form 
of Zoroastrianism than that which prevailed in Media, where 
a mongrel religion had grown up from the mixture of the old 
Arian creed with Scythic element-worship, he retained his own 
form of belief as the religion of the empire. Universal tolera- 
tion was, however, established. The Jews, regarded with spe- 
cial favor as monotheists, were replaced in their proper coun- 
try. Ecbatana was kept as the capital, while Pasargadse be- 
came a sacred city, used for coronations and interments. The 
civilization of the Medes, their art, architecture, ceremonial, 
dress, manners, and to some extent their luxury, were adopted 
by the conquering people. The employment of letters in in- 
scriptions on public monuments began. No general system 
of administration was established. Some countries remained 



ANCIENT HISTORY 79 

under tributary native kings; others were placed under gov- 
ernors; in some the governmental functions were divided, and 
native officers shared the administration with Persians. The 
rate of tribute was not fixed. Cyrus left the work of consolida- 
tion and organization to his successors, content to have given 
them an empire on which to exercise their powers. 

The close of the reign of Cyrus is shrouded in some ob- 
scurity. We do not know why he did not carry out his designs 
against Egypt, nor what occupied him in the interval between 
B.C. 538 and 529. We can not even say with any certainty 
against what enemy he was engaged when he lost his life. 
Herodotus and Ctesias are here irreconcilably at variance, and 
though the authority of the former is greater, the narrative of 
the latter is in this instance the more credible. Both writers, 
however, are agreed that the Persian king was engaged in 
chastising an enemy on his north-eastern frontier, when he 
received the wound from which he died. Probably he was 
endeavoring to strike terror into the nomadic hordes who here 
bordered the empire, and so to secure his territories from their 
dreaded aggressions. If this was his aim, his enterprise was 
successful ; for we hear of no invasion of Persia from the Tur- 
coman country until after the time of Alexander. 

Cyrus left behind him two sons, Cambyses and Bardius, or 
(as the Greeks called him) Smerdis. To the former he left the 
regal title and the greater portion of his dominions; to the 
latter he secured the inheritance of some large and important 
provinces. This imprudent arrangement cost Smerdis his life, 
by rousing the jealousy of his brother, who very early in his 
reign caused him to be put to death secretly. 

The genius of Cambyses was warlike, like that of his father; 
but he did not possess the same ability. Nevertheless he 
added important provinces to the empire. First of all he pro- 
cured the submission of Phoenicia and Cyprus, the great naval 
powers of Western Asia, which had not been subject to Cyrus. 
He then invaded Africa, B.C. 525, defeated Psammenitus in a 
pitched battle, took Memphis, conquered Egypt, received the 
submission of the neighboring Libyan tribes, and of the Greek 
towns of the Cyrena'ica, and proceeded to form designs of re- 
markable grandeur. But these projects all miscarried. The 



8o RAWLINSON 

expedition against Carthage was stopped by the refusal of the 
Phoenicians to attack their own colony; that against the oasis 
of Ammon ended in a frightful disaster. His own march 
against Ethiopia was arrested by the failure of provisions and 
water in the Nubian desert; and the losses which he incurred 
by persisting too long in his attempt brought Egypt to the 
brink of rebellion. The severe measures taken to repress this 
revolt were directed especially against the powerful caste of 
the priests, and had the effect of thoroughly alienating the 
province, which thenceforth never ceased to detest and plot 
against its conquerors. 

The stay of Cambyses in Egypt, imprudently prolonged, 
brought about a revolution at the Medo-Persian capital. A 
Magus, named Gomates, supported by his order, which was 
powerful in many parts of the empire, ventured to personate 
the dead Smerdis, and seized the throne in his name. His 
claim was tacitly acknowledged. Cambyses, when the news 
reached him in Syria on his march homeward, despairing of 
being able to make head against the impostor, committed 
suicide — B.C. 522 — after having reigned eight years. 

To conciliate his subjects, the pseudo-Smerdis began his 
reign by a three years' remission of tribute, and an exemption 
of the conquered nations from military service for the like 
space. At the same time, he adopted an extreme system of 
seclusion, in the hope that his imposture might escape detec- 
tion, never quitting the palace, and allowing no communication 
between his wives and their relations. But the truth gradually 
oozed out. His religious reforms were startling in an Achae- 
menian prince. His seclusion was excessive and suspicious. 
Doubts began to be entertained, and secret messages between 
the great Persian nobles and some of the palace inmates con- 
verted these doubts into certainty. Darius, the son of Hystas- 
pes, and probably heir-presumptive to the crown, headed an 
insurrection, and the impostor was slain after he had reigned 
eight months. 

Darius I., who ascended the throne in January, B.C. 521, 
and held it for nearly thirty-six years, was the greatest of the 
Persian monarchs. He was at once a conqueror and an ad- 
ministrator. During the earlier part of his reign he was en- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 8i 

gaged in a series of struggles against rebellions, which broke 
out in almost all parts of the empire. Susiana, Babylonia, 
Persia Proper, Media, Assyria, Armenia, Hyrcania, Parthia, 
Margiana, Sagartia, and Sacia successively revolted. The sa- 
traps in Egypt and Asia Minor acted as though independent 
of his authority. The empire was shaken to its centre, and 
threatened to fall to pieces. But the military talent and pru- 
dence of the legitimate monarch prevailed. Within the space 
of six years the rebellions were all put down, the pretenders 
executed, and tranquillity generally restored throughout the 
disturbed provinces. 

The evils of disorganization, which had thus manifested 
themselves so conspicuously, may have led Darius to turn his 
thoughts towards a remedy. At any rate, to him belongs the 
credit of having given to the Persian empire that peculiar or- 
ganization and arrangement which maintained it in a fairly 
flourishing condition for nearly two centuries. He divided 
the whole empire into twenty (?) governments, called " sa- 
trapies," and established everywhere a uniform and somewhat 
complicated governmental system. Native tributary kings 
were swept away; and, in lieu of them, a single Persian ofBcial 
held in each province the supreme civil authority. A standing 
army of Medo-Persians, dispersed throughout the empire, 
supported the civil power, maintained tranquillity, and was 
ready to resist the attacks of foreigners. A fixed rate of tribute 
took the place of arbitrary exactions. " Royal roads " were 
established, and a system of posts arranged, whereby the court 
received rapid intelligence of all that occurred in the provinces, 
and promptly communicated its own commands to the remot- 
est corners of the Persian territory. 

The military system, established or inherited by Darius, had 
for its object to combine the maximum of efficiency against a 
foreign enemy with the minimum of danger from internal dis- 
affection. The regular profession of arms was confined to 
the dominant race — or to that race and a few others of closely 
kindred origin — and a standing army, thus composed and 
amounting to several hundreds of thousands, maintained order 
throughout the Great King's dominions, and conducted the 
smaller 'and less important expeditions. But when danger 
6 



82 RAWLINSON 

threatened, or a great expedition was to be undertaken, the 
whole empire was laid under contribution; each one of the 
subject nations was required to send its quota; and in this way 
armies were collected which sometimes exceeded a million of 
men. In the later times, mercenaries were largely employed, 
not only in expeditions, but as a portion of the standing army. 

The navy of the Persians was drawn entirely from the con- 
quered nations. Phoenicia, Egypt, Cyprus, Cilicia, Asiatic 
Greece, and other of the maritime countries subject to Persia, 
furnished contingents of ships and crews according to their 
relative strength; and fleets were thus collected of above a 
thousand vessels. The ship of war ordinarily employed was 
the trireme; but lesser vessels were also used occasionally. 
The armed force on board the ships {eTn^draL or " marines ") 
was Medo-Persian, either wholly or predominantly; and the 
fleets were usually placed under a Persian or Median com- 
mander. 

The great king to whom Persia owed her civil, and (prob- 
ably in part) her military organization, was not disposed to 
allow the warlike qualities of his subjects to rust for want of 
exercise. Shortly after the revolts had been put down, Darius 
I., by himself or by his generals, commenced and carried out 
a series of military expeditions of first-rate importance. The 
earliest of these was directed against Western India, or the 
regions now known as the Punjab and Scinde. After explor- 
ing the country by means of boats, which navigated the Indus 
from Attock to the sea, he led or sent a body of troops into 
the region, and rapidly reduced it to subjection. A valuable 
gold-tract was thus added to the empire, and the revenue was 
augmented by about one-third. Commerce also received an 
impulse from the opening of the Indian market to Persian 
traders, who thenceforth kept up a regular communication 
with the tribes bordering the Indus by coasting vessels which 
started from the Persian Gulf. 

The next great expedition was in the most directly opposite 
direction. It was undertaken against the numerous and war- 
like Scythian nation which possessed the vast plains of South- 
ern Russia, extending between the Don and the Danube, the 
region now generally known as the Ukraine. The object of 



ANCIENT HISTORY 83 

this expedition was not conquest, but the exhibition of the 
Persian mihtary strength, the sight of which was calculated 
to strike terror into the Scythic hordes, and to prevent them 
from venturing to invade the territory of so powerful a neigh- 
bor. The great Persian kings, like the great Roman emperors, 
caused their own frontiers to be respected by overstepping 
them, and ravaging with fire and sword the countries of the 
fierce Northern barbarians. 

The sequel of the Scythian expedition was the firm estab- 
lishment of the Persian power on the European side of the 
straits, and the rapid extension of it over the parts of Thrace 
bordering on the /Egean, over the adjoining country of Pae- 
onia, and even over the still more remote Macedonia. The 
Persian dominion now reached from the Indian desert to the 
borders of Thessaly, and from the Caucasus to Ethiopia. 

Simultaneously w'ith the Scythic expedition, Aryandes, the 
satrap of Egypt, marched against the Greek town of Barca, 
in Africa, to avenge the murder of a king who was a Persian 
tributary. Barca was taken, and its inhabitants transplanted 
to Asia; but the hostility of the semi-independent nomades 
was aroused, and the army on its return suffered no incon- 
siderable losses. 

Not long afterwards the ambitious designs of Darius were 
violently interrupted by a revolt second in importance to 
scarcely any of those which had occupied his early years. The 
Greeks of Asia, provoked by the support which Darius lent 
to their tyrants, and perhaps rendered sensible of their power 
by the circumstances of the Scythic campaign, broke out into 
general rebellion at the instigation of Aristagoras of Miletus, 
murdered or expelled their tyrants, and defied the power of 
Persia. Two states of European Greece, Athens and Eretria, 
joined the rebels. Bold counsels prevailed, and an attack was 
made on the satrapial capital, Sardis. Unfortunately, the 
capture of the city was followed by its accidental conflagration ; 
and the small knot of invaders, forced to retreat, were over- 
taken and defeated in the battle of Ephesus, whereupon the 
two European allies deserted the falling cause. On the other 
hand, numerous states, both European and Asiatic, excited 
by the news of the fall of Sardis, asserted independence; and 



84 RAWLINSON 

the flames of rebellion were lighted along the entire Asiatic 
coast from the Sea of Marmora to the Gulf of Issus. The 
Ionian, ^olic, and Hellespontine Greeks, the Carians and 
Caunians of the south-western corner of the peninsula, and 
the Cyprians, both Greek and native, made common cause; 
several battles were fought with varying success; but at last 
the power of Persia prevailed. The confederate fleet suffered 
defeat in the battle of Lade, and soon afterwards Miletus was 
taken. The rebellious states were punished with great severity, 
and the authority of Darius was once more firmly established 
in all the revolted countries. 

The honor of the Great King required that immediate ven- 
geance should be taken on the bold foreigners who had inter- 
meddled between him and his subjects. But, even apart from 
this, an expedition against Greece was certain, and could only 
be a question of time. The exploring voyage of Democedes, 
about B.C. 510, shows that even before the Scythian campaign 
an attack on this quarter was intended. An expedition was 
therefore fitted out, in B.C. 493, under Mardonius, which took 
the coast-line through Thrace and Macedonia. A storm at 
Athos, however, shattered the fleet; and the land-army was 
crippled by a night attack of the Brygi. Mardonius returned 
home without effecting his purpose; but his expedition was 
not wholly fruitless. His fleet reduced Thasos; and his army 
forced the Macedonians to exchange their positions of semi- 
independence for complete subjection to Persia. 

The failure of Mardonius was followed within two years 
by the second great expedition against Greece — the first which 
reached it — that conducted by Datis. Datis proceeded by sea, 
crossing through the Cyclades, and falling first upon Eretria, 
which was besieged, and taken by treachery. A landing was 
then made at Marathon; but the defeat of the Persian host 
by Miltiades, and his rapid march to Athens immediately after 
the victory, frustrated the expedition, disappointing alike the 
commander and the Athenian ex-tyrant, Hippias, who had 
accompanied it. 

Undismayed by his two failures, Darius commenced prepa- 
rations for a third attack, and would probably have proceeded 
in person against Athens, had not the revolt of Egypt first 



ANCIENT HISTORY 85 

(B.C. 487), and then his own death (B.C. 486), intervened. 
Darius died after nominating as his successor, not his eldest 
son, Artobazanes, but the eldest of his sons by Atossa, daugh- 
ter of Cyrus — a prince who had thus the advantage of having 
in his veins the blood of the great founder of the empire. 

Darius probably died at Susa; but he was buried in the 
vicinity of Persepolis, where he had prepared himself an elabo- 
rate rock tomb, adorned with sculptures and bearing a long 
inscription — all which remain to the present day. The great 
palace of Persepolis, in all its extent and grandeur, was his 
conception, if not altogether his work; as was also the equally 
magnificent structure at Susa, which was the ordinary royal 
residence from his time. He likewise set up the great rock 
inscription at Behistun (Bagistan), the most valuable of all 
the Persian monumental remains. Other memorials of his 
reign have been found, or are known to have existed, at Ecba- 
tana, at Byzantium, in Thrace, and in Egypt. In the last- 
named country he reopened the great canal between the Nile 
and the Red Sea, which the Ramessides had originally cut, 
and the Psamatiks had vainly endeavored to re-establish, 

Xerxes I., who succeeded Darius, B.C. 486, commenced his 
reign by the reduction of Egypt, B.C. 485, which he intrusted 
to his brother, Achsemenes. He then provoked and chastised 
a rebellion of the Babylonians, enriching himself with the 
plunder of their temples. After this he turned his attention 
to the invasion of Greece. 

Too much weight has probably been assigned to the cabals 
and intrigues of the Persian nobles, and the Greek refugees 
at Xerxes's court. Until failure checked the military aspira- 
tions of the nation, a Persian prince was almost under the 
necessity of undertaking some great conquest; and there was 
at this time no direction in which an expedition could so read- 
ily be undertaken as towards the west. Elsewhere high moun- 
tains, broad seas, or barren deserts skirted the empire — here 
only did Persian territory adjoin on a fruitful, well-watered, 
and pleasant region. The attempt to reduce Greece was the 
natural sequel to the conquests of Egypt, India, Thrace, and 
Macedon. 

It was now the turn of the Greeks to retaliate on their 



B6 RAWLINSON 

prostrate foe. First under the lead of Sparta and then under 
that of Athens they freed the islands of the yEgean from the 
Persian yoke, expelled the Persian garrisons from Europe, 
and even ravaged the Asiatic coast and made descents on it 
at their pleasure. For twelve years no Persian fleet ventured 
to dispute with them the sovereignty of the seas; and when 
at last, in B.C. 466, a naval force was collected to protect 
Cilicia and Cyprus, it was defeated and destroyed by Cimon 
at the Eurymedon. 

Soon after this Xerxes's reign came to an end. This weak 
prince, after the failure of his grand expedition, desisted from 
all military enterprise. No doubt his empire was greatly in- 
jured and exhausted by its losses in the Grecian war, and a 
period of repose was absolutely necessary; but it would seem 
to have been natural temperament, as much as prudence, that 
caused the unwarlike monarch to rest content under his dis- 
comfiture, and to make no efifort to wipe out its disgrace. 
Xerxes, on his return to Asia, found consolation for his mili- 
tary failure in the delights of the seraglio, and ceased to 
trouble himself much about affairs of State. He was satisfied 
to check the further progress of the Greeks by corrupting 
their cleverest statesmen; and, submitting himself to the gov- 
ernment of women and eunuchs, lost all manliness of char- 
acter. His own indulgence in illicit amours caused violence 
and bloodshed in his family, and his example encouraged a 
similar profligacy in others. The bloody and licentious deeds 
which stain the whole of the later Persian history commence 
with Xerxes, who sufifered the natural penalty of his follies 
and his crimes when, after reigning twenty years, he was mur- 
dered by the captain of his guard, Artabanus, and Aspamitres, 
his chamberlain. 

Artabanus placed on the throne the youngest son of Xerxes, 
Artaxerxes I., called by the Greeks Macrochcir, or " the Long- 
handed." The eldest son, Darius, accused by Artabanus of 
his father's assassination, was executed; the second, Hystaspes, 
who was satrap of Bactria, claimed the crown; and, attempt- 
ing to enforce his claim, was defeated and slain in battle. About 
the same time the crimes of Artabanus were discovered, and 
he was put to death. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 87 

Artaxerxes then reigned quietly for nearly forty years. He 
was a mild prince, possessed of several good qualities; but 
the weakness of his character caused a rapid declension of the 
empire under his sway. The revolt of Egypt was indeed sup- 
pressed after a while through the vigorous measures of the 
satrap of Syria, Megabyzus; and the Athenians, who had fo- 
mented it, were punished by the complete destruction of their 
fleet, and the loss of almost all their men. But the cruelty and 
perfidy shown in the execution of the captured Inarus must 
have increased Egyptian disafifection, while at the same time 
it disgusted Megabyzus and the better class of Persians, and 
became the cause of fresh misfortunes. 

Bent on recovering her prestige, Athens, in B.C. 449, dis- 
patched a fleet to the Levant, under Cimon, which sailed to 
Cyprus and laid siege to Citium. There Cimon died; but the 
fleet which had been under his orders attacked and completely 
defeated a large Persian armament off Salamis, besides de- 
taching a squadron to assist Amyrtaeus, who still held out in 
the Delta. Persia, dreading the loss of Cyprus and Egypt, 
consented to an inglorious peace. The independence of the 
Asiatic Greeks was recognized. Persia undertook not to visit 
with fleet or army the coasts of Western Asia Minor, and 
Athens agreed to abstain from attacks on Cyprus and Egypt. 
The Greek cities ceded by this treaty — the " peace of Callias " 
— to the Athenian confederacy included all those from the 
mouth of the Hellespont to Phaselis in Lycia, but did not in- 
clude the cities on the shores of the Black Sea. 

Scarcely less damaging to Persia was the revolt of Mega- 
byzus, which followed. This powerful noble, disgusted at the 
treatment of Inarus, which was contrary to his pledged word, 
excited a rebellion in Syria, and so alarmed Artaxerxes that 
he was allowed to dictate the terms on which he would con- 
sent to be reconciled to his sovereign. An example was thus 
set of successful rebellion on the part of a satrap, which could 
not but have disastrous consequences. The prestige of the 
central government was weakened; and provincial governors 
were tempted to throw off their allegiance on any fair occa- 
sion that offered itself; since, if successful, they had nothing 
to fear, and in any case they might look for pardon. 



88 RAWLINSON 

The disorders of the court continued, and, indeed, increased, 
under Artaxerxes I., who allowed his mother Amestris, and 
his sister Amytis, who was married to Megabyzus, to indulge 
freely the cruelty and licentiousness of their dispositions. 
Artaxerxes died B.C. 425, and left his crown to his only le- 
gitimate son, Xerxes II. 

Revolutions in the government now succeeded each other 
with great rapidity. Xerxes II., after reigning forty-iive days, 
was assassinated by his half-brother, Secydianus or Sogdianus, 
an illegitimate son of Artaxerxes, who seized the throne, but 
was murdered in his turn, after a reign of six months and a 
half, by another brother, Ochus. 

Ochus, on ascending the throne, took the name of Darius, 
and is known in history as Darius Nothus. He was married 
to Parysatis, his aunt, a daughter of Xerxes I., and reigned 
nineteen years, B.C. 424 to 404, under her tutelage. His reign, 
though checkered with some gleams of sunshine, was on the 
whole disastrous. Revolt succeeded to revolt; and, though 
most of the insurrections were quelled, it was at the cost of 
what remained of Persian honor and self-respect. Corrup- 
tion was used instead of force against the rebellious armies; 
and the pledges freely given to the leaders in order to pro- 
cure their submission were systematically disregarded. Arsites, 
the king's brother, his fellow-conspirator, a brother of Mega- 
byzus, and Pissuthnes, the satrap of Lydia, were successively 
entrapped in this way, and suffered instant execution. So 
low had the feeling of honor sunk, that Pissuthnes's captor, 
Tissaphernes, instead of showing indignation, like Megabyzus, 
accepted the satrapy of his victim, and thus made himself a 
participant in his sovereign's perfidy. 

Still more dangerous to the State, if less disgraceful, were 
the practices which now arose of uniting commonly the offices 
of satrap and commander of the forces, and of committing to 
a single governor two, or even three, satrapies. The authority 
of the Crown was relaxed; satraps became practically uncon- 
trolled; their lawless acts were winked at or condoned; and 
their governments tended more and more to become hereditary 
fiefs — the first step, in empires like the Persian, to disintegra- 
tion. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 89 

The revolts of satraps were followed by national outbreaks, 
which, though sometimes quelled, were in other instances suc- 
cessful. In B.C. 408, the Medes, who had patiently acquiesced 
in Persian rule for more than a century, made an effort to 
shake off the yoke, but were defeated and reduced to subjec- 
tion. Three years later, B.C. 405, Egypt once more rebelled, 
under Nepherites, and succeeded in establishing its indepen- 
dence. (See Book I., Part II.) The Persians were expelled 
from Africa, and a native prince seated himself on the throne 
of the Pharaohs. 

It was some compensation for this loss, and perhaps for 
others towards the north and north-east of the empire, that 
in Asia Minor the authority of the Great King was once more 
established over the Greek cities. It was the Peloponnesian 
War, rather than the peace of Callias, which had prevented 
any collision between the great powers of Europe and Asia 
for thirty-seven years. Both Athens and Sparta had their 
hands full; and though it might have been expected that 
Persia would have at once taken advantage of the quarrel to 
reclaim at least her lost continental dominion, yet she seems 
to have refrained, through moderation or fear, until the Athe- 
nian disasters in Sicily encouraged her to make an effort. She 
then invited the Spartans to Asia, and by the treaties which 
she concluded with them, and the aid which she gave them, 
re-acquired without a struggle all the Greek cities of the coast. 
It was her policy, however, not to depress Athens too much — 
a policy which was steadily pursued, till the personal ambition 
of the younger Cyrus caused a departure from the line dictated 
by prudence. 

The progress of corruption at court kept pace with the gen- 
eral decline which may be traced in all parts of the empire. 
The power of the eunuchs increased, and they began to aspire, 
not only to govern the monarch, but actually to seat themselves 
upon the throne. Female influence more and more directed 
the general course of affairs ; and the vices of conscious weak- 
ness, perfidy and barbarity came to be looked upon as the 
mainstays of government. 

Darius Nothus died B.C. 405, and was succeeded by his 
eldest son, Arsaces, who on his accession took the name of 



9© RAWLINSON 

Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes II., called by the Greeks Mnemon 
on account of the excellence of his memory, had from the very 
first a rival in his brother Cyrus. Parysatis had endeavored 
to gain the kingdom for her younger son, while the succession 
was still open ; and when her efiforts failed, and Artaxerxes 
was named to succeed his father, she encouraged Cyrus to 
vindicate his claim by arms. It would undoubtedly have been 
advantageous to Persia that the stronger-minded of the two 
brothers should have been the victor in the struggle ; but the 
fortune of war decided otherwise. Cyrus fell at Cunaxa, a 
victim to his own impetuosity ; and Artaxerxes II. obtained 
undisputed possession of the throne, which he held for above 
forty years. 

The expedition of Cyrus produced a complete change in the 
relations between Persia and Sparta. Sparta had given Cyrus 
important assistance, and thereby irremediably offended the 
Persian monarch. The result of the expedition encouraged 
her to precipitate the rupture which she had provoked. Hav- 
ing secured the services of the Ten Thousand, she attacked 
the Persians in Asia Minor ; and her troops, under Thimbron, 
Dercyllidas, and Agesilaiis, made the Persians tremble for their 
Asiatic dominion. Wisely resolving to find her enemy em- 
ployment at home, Persia brought about a league between the 
chief of the secondary powers of Greece — Argos, Thebes, 
Athens, and Corinth — supplying them with the sinews of war, 
and contributing a contingent of ships, which at once turned 
the scale, and by the battle of Cnidus, B.C. 394, gave the mas- 
tery of the sea to the confederates. Agesilaiis was recalled to 
Europe, and Sparta found herself so pressed that she was glad 
to agree to the peace known as that of Antalcidas, whereby 
the Greeks of Europe generally relinquished to Persia their 
Asiatic brethren, and allowed the Great King to assume the 
part of authoritative arbiter in the Grecian quarrels, B.C. 387. 

Glorious as the peace of Antalcidas was for Persia, and satis- 
factory as it must have been to her to see her most formidable 
enemies engaged in internecine conflict one with another, yet 
the internal condition of the empire showed no signs of im- 
provement. The revolt of Evagoras, Greek tyrant of Salamis 
in Cyprus, was with difficulty put down, after a long and doubt- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 91 

ful struggle, B.C. 391 to 379, in which disaffection was exhib- 
ited by the Phoenicians, the Cilicians, the Carians, and the 
Idumaean Arabs. The terms made with Evagoras were a con- 
fession of weakness, since he retained his sovereignty, and 
merely consented to pay the Persian king an annual tribute. 

The revolt of the Cadusians on the shores of the Caspian 
about this same period, B.C. 384, gave Artaxerxes II. an op- 
portunity of trying his own qualifications for military com- 
mand. The trial was unfavorable ; for he was only saved 
from disaster by the skill of Tiribazus, one of his ofificers, 
who procured with consummate art the submission of the 
rebels. 

Artaxerxes, however, proud of the success which might be 
said, on the whole, to have attended his arms, was not content 
with the mere recovery of newly-revolted provinces, but as- 
pired to restore to the empire its ancient limits. His generals 
commenced the reduction of the Greek islands by the occupa- 
tion of Samos ; and in B.C. 375, having secured the services 
of the Athenian commander, Iphicrates, he sent a great expe- 
dition against Egypt, which was intended to reconquer that 
country. Iphicrates, however, and Pharnabazus, the Persian 
commander, quarrelled. The expedition wholly failed ; and 
the knowledge of the failure provoked a general spirit of dis- 
affection in the western satrapies, which brought the empire 
to the verge of destruction. But corruption and treachery, 
now the usual Persian weapons, were successful once more. 
Orontes and Rheomithras took bribes to desert their confed- 
erates ; Datames was entrapped and executed. An attempt 
of Egypt, favored by Sparta, and promoted by Agesilaiis in 
person, B.C. 361, to annex Phoenicia and Syria, was frustrated 
by internal commotions, and the reign of Artaxerxes closed 
without any further contraction of the Persian territory. 

The court continued during the reign of Artaxerxes II. a 
scene of horrors and atrocities of the same kind that had pre- 
vailed since the time of Xerxes I. Parysatis, the queen- 
mother, was its presiding spirit ; and the long catalogue of her 
cruel and bloody deeds is almost without a parallel even in the 
history of Oriental despotisms. The members of the royal 
household became now the special objects of jealousy to one 



92 RAWLINSON 

another; family affection had disappeared; and executions, 
assassinations, and suicides decimated the royal stock. 

Ochus, the youngest legitimate son of Artaxerxes II., who 
had obtained the throne by the execution of his eldest and the 
suicide of his second brother, assumed on his accession (B.C. 
359) the name of his father, and is known as Artaxerxes III. 
He was a prince of more vigor and spirit than any monarch 
since Darius Hystaspis ; and the power, reputation, and gen- 
eral prosperity of the empire were greatly advanced under his 
administration. The court, however, was incurably corrupt ; 
and Ochus can not be said to have at all improved its condition. 
Rather, it was a just Nemesis by which, after a reign of twenty- 
one years, B.C. 359 to 338, he fell a victim to a conspiracy of 
the seraglio. 

The first step taken by the new king was the complete de- 
struction of the royal family, or, at any rate, of all but its more 
remote branches. Having thus secured himself against rivals, 
he proceeded to arrange and execute some important enter- 
prises. 

The revolt of Artabazus in Asia Minor, fomented at first 
by Athens, and afterwards by Thebes, was important both as 
delaying the grand enterprise of Ochus, and as leading to the 
first betrayal of a spirit inimical to Persia, on the part of Philip 
of Macedon. Philip received Artabazus as a refugee at his 
court, and thus provoked those hostile measures to which 
Ochus had recourse later in his reign — measures which fur- 
nished a ground of complaint to Alexander. 

About B.C. 351, Ochus marched a large army into Egypt, 
bent on recovering that province to the empire. Nectanebo, 
however, the Egyptian king, met him in the field, defeated him, 
and completely repulsed his expedition. Ochus returned to 
Persia to collect fresh forces, and immediately the whole of the 
West was in a flame. Phcenicia reclaimed her independence, 
and placed herself under the government of Tennes, king of 
Sidon. Cyprus revolted, and set up nine native sovereigns. 
In Asia Minor a dozen petty chieftains assumed the airs of 
actual monarchs. Ochus, however, nothing daunted, em- 
ployed his satraps to quell or check the revolts, while he him- 
self collected a second armament, obtained the services of 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



93 



Greek generals, and hired Greek mercenaries to the number 
of 10,000. He then proceeded in person against Phoenicia and 
Egypt, B.C. 346. 

Partly by force, but mainly by treachery, Sidon was taken 
and Phoenicia reduced to subjection ; Mentor, with 4,000 
Greeks, deserting and joining the Persians. Egypt was then 
a second time invaded ; Nectanebo was defeated and driven 
from the country ; and the Egyptian satrapy was recovered. 
The glory which Ochus thus acquired was great ; but the value 
of his success, as an indication of reviving Persian vigor, was 
diminished by the fact that it was mainly owing to the conduct 
of Greek generals and the courage of Greek mercenaries. Still, 
to Bagoas, the eunuch, and to Ochus himself, some of the credit 
must be allowed ; and the vigorous administration which fol- 
lowed on the Egyptian campaign gave promise of a real recov- 
ery of pristine force and strength. But this prospect was soon 
clouded by a fresh revolution in the palace, which removed the 
most capable of the later Achsemenian monarchs. 

A savage cruelty was one of the most prominent features in 
the character of Ochus ; and his fierceness and violence had 
rendered him unpopular with his subjects, when the eunuch 
Bagoas, his chief minister, ventured on his assassination, B.C. 
338. Bagoas placed Arses, the king's youngest son, upon the 
throne, and destroyed the rest of the seed royal. It was his 
object to reign as minister of a prince who was little more than 
a boy; but after two years he grew alarmed at some threats 
that Arses had uttered, and secured himself by a fresh murder. 
Not venturing to assume the vacant crown himself, he con- 
ferred it on a friend, named Codomannus — perhaps descended 
from Darius II. — who mounted the throne under the title of 
Darius III., and immediately put to death the wretch to whom 
he owed his elevation, B.C. 336. 

Superior morally to the greater number of his predecessors, 
Darius III. did not possess sufificient intellectual ability to en- 
able him to grapple with the difificulties of the circumstances 
in which he was placed. The Macedonian invasion of Asia, 
which had commenced before he mounted the throne, failed 
to alarm him as it ought to have done. He probably despised 
Alexander's youth and inexperience; at any rate, it is certain 



94 RAWLINSON 

that he took no sufficient measures to guard his country 
against the attack with which it was threatened. Had Per- 
sia joined the European enemies of Alexander in the first 
year of his reign, the Macedonian conquest of Asia might 
never have taken place. Still, Darius was not wholly want- 
ing to the occasion. An important native and mercenary 
force was collected in Mysia to oppose the invader, if he should 
land ; and a large fleet was sent to the coast, which ought to 
have made the passage of the Hellespont a matter of difficulty. 
But the remissness and over-confidence of the Persian leaders 
rendered these measures ineffectual. Alexander's landing was 
unopposed, and the battle of the Granicus (B.C. 334), which 
might have been avoided, caused the immediate loss of all 
Asia Minor. Soon afterwards, the death of Memnon deprived 
Darius of his last chance of success by disconcerting all his 
plans for the invasion of Europe. Compelled to act wholly 
on the defensive, he levied two great armies, and fought two 
great battles against his foe. In the first of these, at Issus 
(B.C. 333), he no doubt threw away all chance of victory by 
engaging his adversary in a defile ; but in the second all the 
advantages that nature had placed on the side of the Persians 
were given full play. The battle of Arbela (Oct. i, B.C. 331), 
fought in the broad plains of Adiabene, on ground carefully 
selected and prepared by the Persians, fairly tested the relative 
strength of the two powers ; and when it was lost, the empire 
of Persia came naturally to an end. The result of the contest 
might have been predicted from the time of the battle of Mara- 
thon. The inveterate tendency of Greece to disunion, and the 
liberal employment of Persian gold, had deferred a result that 
could not be prevented, for nearly two centuries.* 

* For the details of the Greek wars with Persia, see Book III., Third 
Period; and for those of the war between Darius and Alexander, see 
Book IV., First Period. 



BOOK III 
HISTORY OF GREECE 



HELEN OF TROY. 

From the original painting bv Sir Frederick Leighton. 



BOOK III 

HISTORY OF THE GRECIAN STATES FROM THE EARLI- 
EST TIAIES TO THE ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER. 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 

Hellas, or Greece Proper, is a peninsula of moderate size, 
bounded on the north by Olympus, the Cambunian moun- 
tains, and an artificial line prolonged westward to the Acroce- 
raunian promontory; on the west by the Adriatic or Ionian 
Gulf; on the south by the Mediterranean; and on the east 
by the ^gean Sea. Its greatest length from north to south, 
between the Cambunian mountains and Cape Taenarus, is 
about 250 English miles ; its greatest width, between the Acro- 
ceraunian promontory and the mouth of the Peneus, or again 
between the coast of Acarnania and Marathon in Attica, is 
about 180 miles. Its superficial extent has been estimated at 
35,000 square miles, which is somewhat less than the size of 
Portugal. 

The geographical features which most distinctly characterize 
the Hellenic Peninsula are the number of its mountains and 
the extent of its sea-board. Numerous deep bays strongly in- 
dent the coast, while long and narrow promontories run out 
far into the sea on all sides, causing the proportion of coast 
to area to be very much greater than is found in any other 
country of Southern Europe. Excellent harbors abound ; the 
tideless sea has few dangers ; off the coast lie numerous littoral 
islands of great beauty and fertility. Nature has done her 
utmost to tempt the population to maritime pursuits, and to 
make them cultivate the art of navigation. Communication 
between most parts of the country is shorter and easier by sea 
than by land ; for the mountain-chains which intersect the 
Vol. I. — 7 97 



gS RAWLINSON 

region in all directions are for the most part lofty and rugged, 
traversable only by a few passes, often blocked by snow in 
the winter-time. 

The Mountain-system of Greece may best be regarded as 
an ofifshoot from the great European chain of the Alps. At 
a point a little to the west of the 21st degree of longitude (E. 
from Greenwich), the Albanian Alps throw out a spur, which, 
under the names of Scardus, Pindus, Corax, Taphiassus,.Pana- 
chaicus, Lampea, Pholoe, Parrhasius, and Taygetus, runs in 
a direction a little east of south from the 426. parallel to the 
promontory of Tsenarum. From this great longitudinal chain 
are thrown out, at brief intervals on either side, a series of 
lateral branches, having a general latitudinal direction ; from 
which again there start off other cross ranges, which follow 
the course of the main chain, or backbone of the region, point- 
ing nearly south-east. The latitudinal chains are especially 
marked and important in the eastern division of the country, 
between Pindus and the u^gean. Here are thrown off, suc- 
cessively, the Cambunian and Olympic range, which formed 
the northern boundary of Greece Proper ; the range of Othrys, 
which separated Thessaly from Malis and yEniania; that of 
CEta, which divided between Malis and Doris ; and that of 
Parnassus, Helicon, Cithseron, and Parnes, which, starting 
from near Delphi, terminated in the Rhamnusian promontory, 
opposite Euboea, forming in its eastern portion a strong bar- 
rier between Boeotia and Attica. Of a similar character on the 
opposite side were Mount Lingus in Northern Epirus, which 
struck westward from Pindus at a point nearly opposite the 
Cambunians ; together with Mount Tymphrestus in Northern, 
and Mount Bomius in Central ^tolia. In the Peloponnese, 
the main chain, which stretched from Rhium to Taenarum, 
threw off, on the west. Mount Scollis, which divided Achaea 
from Elis, and Mount Elseon, which separated Elis from Mes- 
senia ; while, towards the east, the lateral branches were, first, 
one which, under the names of Erymanthus, Aroania, and Cyl- 
lene, divided Achaea from Arcadia, and which was then pro- 
longed eastward to the Scyllaean promontory in Argolis ; and, 
secondly. Mount Parthenium, which intervened between Ar- 
golis and Laconia. Of secondary longitudinal chains the only 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



99 



ones which need special mention are the range of PeHon and 
Ossa, which shut in Thessaly on the east; that of PenteHcus, 
Hymettus, and Anhydrtis, in Attica; and that of Parnon in 
the Peloponnese, which stretched from near Tegea to Malea. 

The Mountain-chains of Greece occupy so large a portion 
of the area that but little is left for level ground or plains. Still, 
a certain number of such spaces existed, and were the more 
valued for their rarity. The greater portion of Thessaly was 
a vast plain, surrounded by mountains, and drained by a single 
river, the Peneus. In Boeotia there were two large plains, one 
the marshy plain of the Cephissus, much of which was occu- 
pied by Lake Copais ; and the other, the plain of Asopus, on 
the verge of which stood Thebes, Thespige, and Platsea. Attica 
boasted of three principal plains, that of Eleusis, adjoining the 
city of the name, that of Athens itself, and that of Marathon. 
In Western and Southern Peloponnese were the lowlands of 
Cava Elis on either side of the Peneus river, of Macaria, about 
the mouth of the Pamisus, and of Helos, at the embouchure 
of the Eurotas ; in the central region were the high upland 
plains, or basins, of Tegea, Mantinea, Pheneus, and Orchome- 
nus ; while Eastern Peloponnese boasted the fertile alluvium 
of Argos, watered by the Chimarrhus, Erasinus, Phrixus, 
Charadrus, and Inachus. 

The Rivers of Greece were numerous, but of small volume, 
the majority being little more than winter torrents, and carry- 
ing little or no water in the summer-time. The only streams 
of any real magnitude were the Acheloiis, which rose in Epirus, 
and divided ^tolia from Acarnania; the northern Peneus, 
which drained the great Thessalian plain; and the Alpheus, 
the stream on whose banks stood Olympia. Among secondary 
rivers may be noticed the Thyamis, Oropus, and Arachthus, 
in Epirus ; the Evenus and Daphnus, in ^tolia ; the Sper- 
cheius, in Malis ; the Cephissus and Asopus, in Boeotia ; the 
Peneus, Pamisus, Eurotas, and Inachus, in the Peloponnese. 

It is a characteristic of the Grecian rivers to disappear in 
Catabothra or subterraneous passages. The limestone rocks 
are full of caves and fissures, while the plains consist often of 
land-locked basins which present to the eye no manifest outlet. 
Here the streams commonly form lakes, the waters of which 



loo RAWLINSON 

flow off through an underground channel, sometimes visible, 
sometimes only conjectured to exist, to the sea. Instances of 
such visible outlets are those by which the Cephissus finds an 
egress from Lake Copais, in Boeotia (where art, however, has 
assisted nature), and those by which the superfluous waters 
are carried off from most of the lakes in the Peloponnese. 
Invisible channels are believed to give a means of escape to 
the waters of Lakes Hylice and Trephia, in Boeotia. 

The Lakes of Greece are numerous, but not very remark- 
able. The largest is Lake Copais, in Boeotia, the area of which 
has been estimated at forty-one square miles. Next in size to 
this is, probably, Boebei's, in Thessaly, formed mainly by the 
overflowings of the Peneus. To these may be added Lake 
Pambotis, in Epirus, on the southern shores of which was the 
oracular shrine of Dodona; Lakes Trichonis and Conope, in 
.(^tolia, between the Evenus and Acheloiis ; Lake Nessonis, 
near Lake Boebe'is, in Thessaly ; Lake Xynias, in Achaea 
Phthiotis ; the smaller Boeotian lakes, Hylice and Trephia ; 
and the Arcadian lakes of Pheneus, Stymphalus, Orchomenus, 
Mantinea, and Tegea. 

It has been observed that the littoral islands of Greece were 
both numerous and important. The principal one was Euboea, 
which lay as a great breakwater along the whole east coast of 
Attica, Boeotia, and Locris, extending in length rather more 
than loo miles, with an average breadth of about fifteen miles. 
Very inferior to this in size, but nearly equal in importance, 
was Corcyra, on the opposite or western side of the peninsula, 
which had a length of forty, and a breadth varying from fifteen 
to five miles. Besides these, there lay off the west coast Paxos, 
Leucas or Leucadia, Ithaca, Cephallenia, and Zacynthus (now 
Zante) ; off the south, the CEnussge and Cythera ; off the east, 
Tiparenus, Hydria, Calauria, ^gina, Salamis, Cythnus, Ceos, 
Helene, Andros, Scyros, Peparethus, Halonnesus, and Scia- 
thus. From the south-eastern shores of Euboea and Attica, 
the Cyclades and Sporades extended in a continuous series, 
like a set of stepping-stones, across the ^gean Sea to Asia. 
On the other side, from Corcyra and the Acroceraunian prom- 
ontory, the eye could see, on a clear day, the opposite coast 
of Italy. 



ANCIENT HISTORY loi 

The natural division of Greece is into Northern, Central, 
and Southern. Northern Greece extends from the north boun- 
dary-line to the point where the eastern and western shores 
are respectively indented by the Gulfs of Malis and Ambracia 
or Actiuni. Central Greece reaches from this point to the Isth- 
mus of Corinth. Southern Greece is identical with the Pelo- 
ponnese. 

Northern Greece contained in ancient times two principal 
countries, Thessaly and Epirus, which were separated from 
each other by the high chain of Pindus. Besides these, there 
were, on the eastern side of the mountain barrier, Magnesia 
and Achjea Phthiotis ; and in the mountain region itself, half- 
way between the two gulfs, Dolopia, or the country of the 
Dolopes. 

Thessaly, the largest and most fertile country of Greece 
Proper, was almost identical with the basin of the Peneus. 
It was a region nearly circular in shape, with a diameter of 
about seventy miles. Mountains surrounded it on every side, 
from which descended numerous streams, all of them converg- 
ing, and flowing ultimately into the Peneus. The united waters 
passed to the sea through a single narrow gorge, the celebrated 
vale of Tempe, which was said to have been caused by an 
earthquake. Thessaly was divided into four provinces : — 
(a) Perrhaebia on the north, along the skirts of Olympus and 
the Cambunians; (b) Histiaeotis, towards the west, on the 
flanks of Pindus, and along the upper course of the Peneus ; 
(c) Thessaliotis, towards the south, bordering on Achaea Phthi- 
otis and Dolopia; and (d) Pelasgiotis, towards the east, be- 
tween the Enipeus and Magnesia. Its chief cities were, in 
Perrhaebia, Gonni and Phalanna ; in Histiaeotis, Gomphi and 
Tricca ; in Thessaliotis, Cierium and Pharsalus ; in Pelasgio- 
tis, Larissa and Pherae. 

Epirus, the next largest country to Thessaly, was in shape 
an oblong square, seventy miles long from north to south, and 
about fifty-five miles across. It consisted of a series of lofty 
mountains, twisted spurs from Pindus, with narrow valleys 
between, along the courses of the numerous streams. The 
main divisions were — on the east, Molossis ; chief cities. Do- 
dona, Ambracia : to the north-west, Chaonia ; cities, Phoenice, 



I02 RAWLINSON 

Buthrotum, Cestx-ia: to the south-west, Thesprotia; cities, 
Pandosia, Cassope, and in later times, NicopoHs. Epirus, dur- 
ing the real historical period, was Illyrian rather than Greek. 

Magnesia and Achsea Phthiotis are sometimes reckoned as 
parts of Thessaly ; but, in the early times, at any rate, they 
were distinct countries. Magnesia was the coast-tract between 
the mouth of the Peneus and the Pagasaean Gulf, comprising 
the two connected ranges of Ossa and Pelion, with the country 
immediately at their base. It measured in length about sixty- 
five, and in width from ten to fifteen miles. Its chief cities 
were Myrse, Meliboea, and Casthansea upon the eastern coast; 
lolcus, in the Gulf of Pagasse ; and Boebe, near Lake Boebeis, 
in the interior. Acha^a Phthiotis was the tract immediately 
south of Thessaly, extending from the Pagasaean Gulf on the 
east to the part of Pindus inhabited by the Dolopes. It was 
a region nearly square in shape, each side of the square meas- 
uring about thirty miles. It consisted of Mount Othrys, with 
the country at its base. The chief cities were Halos, Thebse 
Phthiotides, Itonus, Melitsea, Lamia, and Xynise, on Lake 
Xynias. 

Dolopia, or the country of the Dolopes, comprised a portion 
of the range of Pindus, together with the more western part 
of Othrys, and the upper valleys of several streams which ran 
into the Acheloiis. It was a small tract, not more than forty 
miles long by fifteen broad, and was very rugged and moun- 
tainous. 

Central Greece, or the tract intervening between Northern 
Greece and the Peloponnese, contained eleven countries ; viz., 
Acarnania, ^tolia, Western Locris, ^Eniania, Doris, Malis, 
Eastern Locris, Phocis, Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris. 

Acarnania, the most western of the countries, was a trian- 
gular tract, bounded on the north by the Ambracian Gulf, on 
the east by the Acheloiis, and on the south-west by the Adri- 
atic. Its sides measured respectively fifty, thirty-five, and 
thirty miles. Its chief cities were, in the interior, Stratus ; 
on the coast, Anactorium, Solium, Astacus, and CEniadae. 

^tolia adjoined Acarnania on the east, and extended in 
that direction as far as ^niania and Doris. On the north it 
was bounded by Dolopia ; on the south by the Corinthian Gulf. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



103 



In size it was about double Acarnania, and its area considerably- 
exceeded that of any other country in this part of Hellas. It 
was generally mountainous, but contained a flat and marshy 
tract between the mouths of the Evenus and Acheloiis ; and 
somewhat farther to the north, a large plain, in which were 
two great lakes, the Conope and the Trichonis. Its chief cities 
were Pleuron, Calydon, and Thermon. 

Western Locris, or the country of the Locri Ozolse, lay on 
the coast of the Corinthian Gulf, immediately to the east of 
yEtolia. Its length along the coast was about thirty-seven 
miles, and its depth inland from about two miles to twenty- 
three. Its chief cities were Naupactus on the coast, and Am- 
phissa in the interior. 

^niania, or ^taea, as it was sometimes called, lay also east 
of ^tolia, but towards the north, whereas Locris adjoined it 
towards the south, ^niania was separated from yEtolia by 
the continuation of Pindus southward, and was bounded on 
the north by Othrys and on the south by CEta. It lay thus on 
the course of the upper Spercheius River. It was an oval- 
shaped country, about twenty-seven miles long by eighteen 
broad. The chief town was Hypata. 

Doris intervened between ^niania and Western Locris. 
This was a small and rugged country, inclosed between Mounts 
Parnassus and Callidromus, on the upper course of the Pindus 
River, a tributary of the Boeotian Cephissus. Its greatest 
length was about seventeen and its greatest width about ten 
miles. It contained the four cities of Pindus, Erineus, Boeum, 
and Cytinium, whence it was known as the Dorian Tetrapolis. 

Malis lay north of Doris, south of Achsea Phthiotis, and 
east of ^niania. It was even smaller than Doris, which it 
resembled in shape. The greatest length was about fifteen 
and the greatest width about eight miles. The chief cities 
were Anticyra and Trachis ; and, in later times, Heraclea. 
At the extreme eastern edge of Malis, between the mountains 
and the sea, was the pass of Thermopylae. 

Eastern Locris lay next to Malis, along the shore of the 
Euripus or Euboean channel. It was politically divided into 
two parts, Epicnemidia and Opuntia; which, in later times, 
were physically separated by a small strip of ground, reckoned 



104 RAWLINSON 

as belonging to Phocis. Epicnemidia extended about seven- 
teen miles, from near Thermopylae to near Daphnus, averaging 
about eight miles in width. Its chief town was Cnemides. 
Opuntia reached from Alope to beyond the mouth of the Ce- 
phissus, a distance of twenty-six miles. Its width was about 
equal to that of Epicnemidia. It derived its name from its 
chief city, Opus. 

Phocis reached from Eastern Locris on the north to the 
Corinthian Gulf on the south. It was bounded on the west by 
Doris and Western Locris, on the east by Boeotia. It was 
squarish in shape, with an average length of twenty-five and 
an average breadth of twenty miles. The central and southern 
parts were extremely mountainous ; but along the course of 
the Cephissus and its tributaries there were some fertile plains. 
The chief cities were Delphi, on the southern flank of Mount 
Parnassus, Elatsea, Parapotamii, Panopeus, Abse, famous for 
its temple, and Hyampolis. 

Boeotia was above twice the size of Phocis, having a length 
of fifty and an average breadth of twenty-three miles. It was 
generally fiat and marshy, but contained the mountain range 
of Helicon on the south, and the lofty hills known as Ptoiis, 
Messapius, Hypatus, and Teumessus, towards the more eastern 
portion of the country. The lake Copais covered an area of 
forty-one square miles, or above one-thirtieth of the surface. 
There were also two smaller lakes between Copais and the 
Eubcean Sea, called respectively Hylice and Trephia. The 
chief rivers of Boeotia were (besides the Cephissus, which en- 
tered it from Phocis) the Asopus, the Termessus, the Thes- 
pius, and the Oeroe. Boeotia was noted for the number and 
greatness of its cities. The chief of these was Thebes ; but 
the following were also of importance : Orchomenus, Thespiae, 
Tanagra, Coronaea, Lebadeia, Haliartus, Chaeroneia, Leuctra, 
and Copae. 

Attica was the foreland or peninsula which projected from 
Boeotia to the south-east. Its length, from Cithaeron to Su- 
nium, was seventy miles ; its greatest width, from Munychia 
to Rhamnus, was thirty miles. Its area has been estimated at 
720 square miles, or about one-fourth less than Boeotia. The 
general character of the tract was mountainous and infertile. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 105 

On the north, Cithaeron, Parnes, and Phelleus formed a con- 
tinuous hne running nearly east and west ; from this descend- 
ed three spurs: one, which divided Attica from the Megarid, 
known as Kerata; another, which separated the Eleusinian 
from the Athenian plain, called yEgaleos ; and the third, which 
ran out from Parnes by Decelea and Marathon to Cape Zoster, 
named in the north Pentelicus, in the centre Hymettus, and 
near the south coast Anhydrus. The towns of Attica, except 
Athens, were unimportant. Its rivers, the two Cephissuses, 
the Ilissus, the Erasinus, and the Charadrus, were little more 
than torrent-courses. 

Megaris, which adjoined on Attica to the west, occupied 
the northern portion of the Isthmus uniting Central Greece 
with the Peloponnese. It was the smallest of all the central 
Greek countries, excepting Doris and Malis, being about four- 
teen miles long by eleven broad, and containing less than 150 
square miles. It had one city only, viz., Megara, with the 
ports Nisaea and Pegae. 

Southern Greece, or the Peloponnese, contained eleven 
countries — viz., Corinth, Sicyon, Achaea, Elis, Arcadia, Mes- 
senia, Laconia, Argolis, Epidauria, Troezenia, and Hermionis. 

The territory of Corinth adjoined Megaris, and included the 
larger portion of the Isthmus, together with a tract of some- 
what greater magnitude in the Peloponnese. Its greatest 
length was twenty-five and its greatest width about twenty- 
three miles. Its shape, however, was extremely irregular ; and 
its area can not be reckoned at more than 230 square miles. 
The only city of importance was Corinth, the capital, which had 
a port on either sea — on the Corinthian Gulf, Lechaeum, and 
on the Saronic Gulf, Cenchreae. 

Sicyon, or Sicyonia, adjoined Corinth on the west. It lay 
along the shore of the Corinthian Gulf for a distance of about 
fifteen miles, and extended inland about twelve or thirteen 
miles. It contained but one city, viz., Sicyon. 

Achaea came next to Sicyonia, and extended along the coast 
a distance of about sixty-five miles. Its average width was 
about ten miles ; and its area may be reckoned at 650 square 
miles. It contained twelve cities, of which Dyme, Patrae (now 
Patras), and Pellene were the most important. 



io6 RAWLINSON 

Elis lay on the west coast of the Peloponnese, extending 
from the mouth of the Larisus to that of the Neda, a distance 
of fifty-seven miles, and reaching inland to the foot of Ery- 
manthus, about twenty-five miles. It was a more level country 
than was common in Greece, containing broad tracts of plain 
along the coast, and some tolerably wide valleys along the 
courses of the Peneus, Alpheus, and Neda rivers. Its chief 
cities were Elis, on the Peneus, the port Cyllene, on the gulf 
of the same name, Olympia and Pisa, on the Alpheus, and 
Lepreum, in Southern Elis or Triphylia. 

Arcadia was the central mountain country — the Switzerland 
— of the Peloponnese. It reached from the mountain-chain of 
Erymanthus, Aroania, and Cyllene in the north, to the sources 
of the Alpheus towards the south, a distance of about sixty 
miles. The average width was about forty miles. The area 
is reckoned at 1700 square miles. The country is for the most 
part a mountainous table-land, the rivers of which, excepting 
towards the west and the south-west, are absorbed in cata- 
bothra, and have no visible outlet to the sea. High plains and 
small lakes are numerous; but by far the greater part of the 
area is occupied by mountains and narrow but fertile valleys. 
Important cities were numerous. Among them may be named 
Mantinea, Tegea, Orchomenus, Pheneus, Hergea, Psophis, 
and, in the later times. Megalopolis. 

Messenia lay south of Elis and Western Arcadia, occupying 
the most westerly of the three forelands in which the Pelo- 
ponnese terminates, and circling round the gulf between this 
foreland and the central one as far as the mouth of the Choerius. 
Its length, from the Neda to the promontory of Acritas, was 
forty-five miles ; its greatest width between Laconia and the 
western coast was thirty-seven miles. The area is estimated at 
1 160 square miles. Much of the country was mountainous; 
but along the course of the main river, the Pamisus, were some 
broad plains, and the entire territory was fertile. The origi- 
nal capital was Stenyclerus ; but afterwards Messene, on the 
south-western flank of Mount Ithome, became the chief town. 
Other important places were-Eira on the upper Neda, Pylus 
(now Navarino), and Methone, south of Pylus (now Modon). 

Laconia embraced the two other Peloponnesian forelands, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 107 

together with a considerable tract to the north of them. Its 
greatest length, between Argolis and the promontory of Malea, 
was nearly eighty miles, while its greatest width was not much 
short of fifty miles. The area approached nearly to 1900 
square miles. The country consisted mainly of a single nar- 
rowish valley — that of the Eurotas — inclosed between two 
lofty mountain-ranges — those of Parnon and Taygetus. Hence 
the expression, " Hollow Lacedsemon." Sparta, the capital, 
lay on the Eurotas, at the distance of about twenty miles from 
the sea. The other towns were unimportant; the chief were 
Gythium and Thyrea on the coast, and Sellasia in the valley 
of the ^nus. 

Argolis is a term sometimes applied to the whole tract pro- 
jecting eastward from Achsea and Arcadia, with the exception 
of the small territory of Corinth : but the word will be here 
used in a narrower sense. Argolis Proper was bounded by 
Sicyonia and Corinthia on the north, by Epidaurus on the east, 
by Cynuria — a portion of Laconia — on the south, and by Ar- 
cadia on the west. Its greatest extent from north to south was 
about thirty, and from east to west about thirty-one miles. 
Its entire area did not exceed 700 square miles. Like the rest 
of the Peloponnese, it was mountainous, but contained a large 
and rich plain at the head of the Argolic Gulf. Its capital was, 
in early times, Mycenae; afterwards Argos. Other cities of 
importance were, Phlius, Cleonae, and Tiryns. The port of 
Argos was Nauplia. 

Epidauria lay east of Argolis, east and south of Corinthia. 
Its length from north to south was about twenty-three miles, 
and its breadth in the opposite direction about eight miles. It 
contained but one city of any note, viz., Epidaurus, the capital. 

Troezenia adjoined Epidauria on the south-east. It com- 
prised the north-eastern half of the Argolic foreland, together 
with the rocky peninsula of Methana. Its greatest length was 
sixteen miles, and its greatest width, excluding Methana, nine 
miles. It contained two cities of note, Troezen and Methana. 

Hermionis adjoined Epidauria on the north and Troezenia 
on the east. It formed the western termination of the Argolic 
foreland. In size it was about equal to Troezenia. It contained 
but one town of any consequence, viz., Hermione. 



io8 RAWLINSON 

Besides the littoral islands of Greece, which have been al- 
ready enumerated, there were several others, studding the 
^gean Sea, which deserve notice ; as particularly the follow- 
ing: — (a) In the Northern ^gean, Lemnos, Imbrus, Thasos, 
and Samothrace. (b) In the Central yEgean, besides Andros, 
Ceos, and Cythnus, which may be called littoral, Tenos, Syros, 
Gyarus, Delos, Myconus, Naxos, Paros, Siphnus, Melos, 
Thera, Amorgus, etc. (c) In the Southern ^gean, Crete. 
This last-named island was of considerable size. It extended 
from west to east a distance of 150 miles, and had an average 
width of about fifteen miles. The area considerably exceeded 
2000 square miles. The chief cities were Cydonia and Gnos- 
sus on the north coast, and Gortyna in the interior. The whole 
island was mountainous but fertile. 

On the character of the Greek Islands, see the work of 

Ross, L., " Reisen auf den Griechischen Inseln." Stuttgart, 1840-52; 
3 vols., 8vo. 

On the general geography of Greece, the following may be 
consulted with advantage: 

Kruse, F. G. H., " Hellas." Leipsic, 1825-27; 3 vols., 8vo. A gen- 
eral description of the geography of Greece from the best sources exist- 
ing at the time. Still of value to the student. 

Cramer, J. A., " Geographical and Historical Description of Ancient 
Greece." Oxford, 1828; 3 vols., 8vo. 

Leake, Col., " Travels in Northern Greece." London, 1835; 4 vols., 
8vo. 

Leake, Col., " Travels in the Morea." London, 1830; 3 vols., 8vo. 

Leake, Col., " Peloponnesiaca," supplemental to the " Travels in the 
Morea." London, 1846; 8vo. 

Curtius, E.. " Peloponnesus." Gotha, 1851-52; 2 vols., 8vo. 

Clark, W. G., " Peloponnesus, Notes of Study and Travel." Lon- 
don. 1858; 8vo. 

Niebuhr, B. G., " Lectures on the Ethnography and Geography of 
Ancient Greece," edited by L. Schmitz. London, 1853; 2 vols., Svo; 
from the German edition of Dr. Isler. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 109 

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

The Ancient Traditional History, from the EarHest Times to 
the Dorian Occupation of the Peloponnese, about B.C. iioo 
to 1000.* 

The Greeks of the historical times seem to have had no tra- 
ditions of a migration from Asia. Their ancestors, they held, 
had always been in the country, though they had not always 
been called Hellenes. Greece had been inhabited from a re- 
mote age by races more or less homogeneous, and more or less 
closely allied with their own — Pelasgi, Leleges, Curetes, Cau- 
cones, Aones, Dolopes, Dryopes, and the like. Of these, the 
Pelasgi had been the most important. The Hellenes proper 
had originally been but one tribe out of many cognate ones. 
They had dwelt in Acheea Phthiotis, or, according to others, 
near Dodona, and had originally been insignificant in numbers 

* Sources. Native only. Homer. — The two poems which pass under 
this venerable name, whatever their actual origin, must always con- 
tinue to be, on account of their great antiquity, the prime authority 
for the early condition of things in Greece. Modern criticism agrees 
with ancient in viewing them as the earliest remains of Greek literature 
that have come down to us; and, if their actual date is about B.C. 850, 
as now generally believed, they must be regarded as standing apart on 
a vantage-ground of their own; for we have nothing else continuous 
or complete in Greek literature for nearly four centuries. Herodotus. 
— This writer, though the immediate subject of his history is the great 
Persian War, yet carries us back in the episodical portions of his work 
to very remote times, and is entitled to consideration as a careful in- 
quirer into the antiquities of many nations, his own among the number. 
Thucydides. — The sketch with which the history of Thucydides opens, 
a masterly production, gives the judgment of a shrewd and well-read 
Athenian of the fourth century B.C. on the antiquities of Greece. 
Diodorus Siculus collected from previous writers, particularly Ephorus 
and Timseus, the early traditional history of Greece, and related it in 
his fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh books; of these the fourth and fifth 
remain, while the other two are lost, excepting a few fragments. IMuch 
interesting information on the early history of Greece is contained in 
the geographers, as particularly in Strabo, Pausanias, and Scymnus 
Chius. Of Plutarch's Lives one only, that of Theseus, belongs to the 
early period. 



no RAWLINSON 

and of small account. In process of time, however, they ac- 
quired a reputation above that of the other tribes; recourse 
was had to them for advice and aid in circumstances of diffi- 
culty; other tribes came over to them, adopted their name, 
their form of speech, and the general character of their civiliza- 
tion. The growth and spread of the Hellenes was thus not by 
conquest but by influence; they did not overpower or expel 
the Pelasgi, Leleges, etc., but gradually assimilated them. 

The original Hellenic tribes seem to have been two only, 
the Dorians and the Achseans, of whom the latter preponder- 
ated in the more ancient times. Settled in Achsea Phthiotis 
from a remote antiquity, they were also, before the Dorian 
occupation, the leading race of the Peloponnese. Here they 
are said to have had three kingdoms — those of Argos, My- 
cenae, and Sparta — which attained to a considerable degree 
of prosperity and civilization. The Dorians were reported to 
have dwelt originally with the Achseans in Phthiotis; but 
their earliest ascertained locality was the tract on the Upper 
Pindus which retained the name of Doris down to Roman 
times. In this " small and sad region " they grew to greatness, 
increasing in numbers, acquiring martial habits, and perhaps 
developing a peculiar discipline. 

The most important of the Pelasgic tribes was that of the 
lonians, which occupied in the earliest times the whole north 
coast of the Peloponnese, the Megarid, Attica, and Euboea. 
Another (so-called) tribe (which is, however, perhaps, only 
a convenient designation under which to include such inhabi- 
tants of the country as were not Achaean, Dorian, or Ionian) 
was that of the Cohans, to which the Thessalians, Boeotians, 
Cohans, Locrians, Phocians, Eleans, Pylians, etc., were re- 
garded as belonging. These races having been gradually Hel- 
lenized, the entire four tribes came to be regarded as Hellenic, 
and a mythic genealogy was framed to express at once the 
ethnic unity and the tribal diversity of the four great divisions 
of the Hellenic people. 

Hellen. 

, 1 1 

Dorus. Xutlius. y^olus. 

, ' -I 

Achseus. Ion. 



ANCIENT HISTORY iii 

According to the traditions of the Greeks, some important 
foreign elements were received into the nation during the 
period of which we are treating. Egyptians settled in Attica 
and Argolis ; Phoenicians in Boeotia ; and Mysians, or Phryg- 
ians, at Argos. The civilization of the settlers was higher than 
that of the people among whom they settled, and some con- 
siderable benefits were obtained from these foreign sources. 
Among them may be especially mentioned letters, which were 
derived from the Phoenicians, probably anterior to B.C. iioo. 
Although writing, for some centuries after its introduction, 
was not much used, yet its occasional employment, especially 
for public purposes, was an important check upon the erratic 
tendencies of oral tradition. Inscriptions on the offerings in 
temples, and registers of the succession of kings and sacerdotal 
persons, were among the earliest of the Greek historical doc- 
uments ; and though there is no actual proof that they reached 
back as far as this " First Period," yet there is certainly no 
proof of the contrary, and many of the best critics believe in 
the public employment of writing in Greece thus early. 

But, whatever benefits were derived by the Greeks from 
the foreigners who settled among them, it is evident that 
neither the purity of their race, nor the general character and 
course of their civilization, was much afifected by extraneous 
influences. The incomers were comparatively few in number, 
and were absorbed into the Hellenic nation without leaving 
any thing more than a faint trace of themselves upon the lan- 
guage, customs, or religion of the people which received them 
into its bosom. Greek civilization was in the main of home 
growth. Even the ideas adopted from without acquired in the 
process of reception so new a stamp as to become almost orig- 
inal ; and the Greek people must be held to have, on the whole, 
elaborated for themselves that form of civilization, and those 
ideas on the subjects of art, politics, morals, and religion, 
which have given them their peculiar reputation. 

History proper can scarcely be regarded as commencing 
until the very close of the period now under consideration, 
when we first meet with names which have some claim to be 
regarded as those of actual personages. But the general con- 
dition of the people at the period, and some of the movements 



112 RAWLINSON 

of the races, and even their causes, may be laid down with an 
approach to certainty. 

The Homeric poems represent to us the general state of Greek 
society in the earliest times. The most noticeable features are : 
— The predominance of the tribe or nation over the city, 
which exists indeed, but has nowhere the monopoly of political 
life. The universality of kingly government, which is heredi- 
tary and based upon the notion of " divine right." The exist- 
ence of an hereditary nobility of a rank not much below that 
of the king, who form his council (/SouX,?;) both in peace and 
war, but exercise no effectual control over his actions. The 
existence of an assembly (djopd) which is convened by the 
king, or, in his absence, by one of the chiefs, to receive com- 
munications, and witness trials, but not either to advise or 
judge. The absence of polygamy and the high regard in which 
women are held. Slavery everywhere established, and consid- 
ered to be right. Perpetual wars, not only between the Greeks 
and neighboring barbarians, but between the various Greek 
tribes and nations ; preference of the military virtues over all 
others; excessive regard for stature and physical strength. 
Wide prevalence of nautical habits combined with a disinclina- 
tion to venture into unknown seas ; dependence of the Greeks 
on foreigners for necessary imports. Piracy common ; cities 
built at a distance from the sea from fear of pirates. Strong 
religious feeling; belief in polytheism, in fate, in the divine 
Nemesis, and the punishment of heinous crimes by the Furies. 
Respect for the priestly character, for heralds, guests, and sup- 
pliants. Peculiar sanctity of temples and festival seasons. 

The religious sentiment, always strong in the Greek mind, 
formed in the early times one of the most important of the 
bonds of union which held men, and even tribes, together. 
Community of belief led to community of worship ; and tem- 
ples came to be frequented by all the tribes dwelling around 
them, who were thus induced to contract engagements with 
one another, and to form leagues of a peculiar character. These 
leagues, known as Amphictyonies, were not political alliances, 
much less confederations ; they were, in their original concep- 
tion, limited altogether to religious purposes ; the tribes, or 
states, contracting them, bound themselves to protect certain 



ANCIENT HISTORY 113 

sacred buildings, rites, and persons, but undertook no other 
engagements towards one another. The most noted of these 
leagues was that whereof the oracular shrine of Delphi was 
the centre ; which acquired its peculiar dignity and importance, 
not so much from the wealth and influence of the Delphic 
temple, as from the fact that among its twelve constituent 
members were included the two leading races of Greece. 

Important movements of some of the principal races seem 
to have take place towards the close of the early period. It 
may be suspected that these had their origin in the pressure 
upon North-western Greece of the Illyrian people, the parent 
(probably) of the modern Albanians. The tribes to the west 
of Pindus were always regarded as less Hellenic than those 
to the east ; and the ground of distinction seems to have been 
the greater Illyrian element in that quarter. The Trojan War, 
if a real event, may have resulted from the Illyrian pressure, 
being an endeavor to obtain a vent for a population, cramped 
for room, in the most accessible part of Asia. To the same 
cause may be assigned the great movement which, commenc- 
ing in Epirus (about B.C. 1200), produced a general shift of 
the populations of Northern and Central Hellas. Quitting 
Thesprotia in Epirus, the Thessalians crossed the Pindus 
mountain-chain, and descending on the fertile valley of the 
Peneus, drove out the Boeotians, and occupied it. The Boeo- 
tians proceeded southward over Othrys and (Eta into the plain 
of the Cephissus, and driving out the Cadmeians and Minyans, 
acquired the territory to which they thenceforth gave name. 
The Cadmeians and Minyse dispersed, and are found in Attica, 
in Lacedsemon, and elsewhere. The Dorians at the same time 
moved from their old home and occupied Dryopis, which 
thenceforward was known as Doris, expelling the Dryopians, 
who fled by sea and found a refuge in Euboea, in Cythnus, and 
in the Peloponnese. 

Not many years later a further, but apparently distinct, 
movement took place. The Dorians, cramped for room in 
their narrow valleys between CEta and Parnassus, having allied 
themselves with their neighbors, the ^tolians, crossed the 
Corinthian Gulf at its narrowest point, between Rhium and 
Antirrhium, and effected a lodgment in the Peloponnese. EHs, 
Vol. I.— 8 



114 RAWLINSON 

Messenia, Laconia, and ArgoHs were successively invaded, and 
at least partially conquered. Elis being assigned to the yEto- 
lians, Dorian kingdoms were established in the three other 
countries. The previous Achaean inhabitants in part submit- 
ted, in part fled northward, and occupied the north coast of the 
Peloponnese, dispossessing the lonians, who found a tempo- 
rary refuge in Attica. 

A further result followed from the migrations and conquests 
here spoken of. The population of Greece, finding the conti- 
nent too narrow for it, was forced to flow out into the islands 
of the Mediterranean and the shores to which those islands 
conducted. The Boeotian occupation of the plain of the Ce- 
phissus led to the first Greek settlements in Asia, those known 
as yEolian, in Lesbos and on the adjacent coast. The Achaean 
conquest of Ionia caused the lonians, after a brief sojourn in 
Attica, to pass on through the Cyclades, to Chios, Samos, and 
the parts of Asia directly opposite. Finally, the success of the 
Dorians against the Achseans caused these last to emigrate, 
in part to Asia under Doric leaders, in part to Italy. 

For the history of these settlements, see ^-he following para- 
graph. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Dorian Conquest of the Peloponnese (about B.C. 
iioo-iooo) to the Commencement of the Wars with Per-i 
sia, B.C. 500. 

Part I. 
History of the principal Hellenic States in Greece Proper. 

The history of the Hellenes subsequently to the Dorian oc- 
cupation of the Peloponnese resolves itself into that of the 
several states. Still, a few general remarks may be made 
before proceeding to the special history of the more important 
cities and countries. The progress of civilization was, for a 
time and to a certain extent, checked by the migrations and 
the troubles which they brought in their train. Stronger and 
more energetic but ruder races took the place of weaker but 
more polished ones. Physical qualities asserted a superiority 
over grace, refinement, and ingenuity. What the rough Do- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 115 

rians were in comparison with the refined Achseans of the Pelo- 
ponnese, such were generally the conquering as compared with 
the conquered peoples. But against this loss must be set the 
greater political vigor of the new era. War and movement, 
bringing out the personal qualities of each individual man, 
favored the growth of self-respect and self-assertion. Amid 
toils and dangers which were shared alike by all, the idea of 
political equality took its rise. A novel and unsettled state 
of things stimulated political inventiveness ; and, various ex- 
pedients being tried, the stock of political ideas increased rap- 
idly. The simple hereditary monarchy of the heroic times was 
succeeded everywhere, except in Epirus, by some more com- 
plicated system of government — some system far more favor- 
able to freedom and to the political education of the individual. 
Another natural consequence of the new condition of things 
was the change by which the City acquired its special dignity 
and importance. The conquerors naturally settled themselves 
in some stronghold, and kept together for their greater secur- 
ity. Each such stronghold became a separate state, holding in 
subjection a certain tract of circumjacent country. At the 
same time, the unconquered countries also, seeing the strength 
that resulted from unity, were induced in many cases to abolish 
their old system of village life and to centralize themselves by 
establishing capitals, and transferring the bulk of their popu- 
lation to them {(TvvoLKiaeL'i). This was the case with Athens, 
Mantinea, Tegea, Dyme, etc. In countries occupied by a sin- 
gle race, but broken up into many distinct states, each central- 
ized in a single city, the idea of political confederation grew 
up, sometimes (it may be) suggested by a pre-existing am- 
phictyony, but occasionally, it would seem, without any such 
preparative. The federal bond was in most cases weak ; and 
in Boeotia alone was the union such as to constitute perma- 
nently a state of first-rate importance. 

The subdivision of Greece into a vast number of small 
states, united by no common political bond, and constantly at 
war with one another, did not prevent the formation and main- 
tenance of a certain general Pan-Hellenic feeling — a conscious- 
ness of unity, a friendliness, and a readiness to make common 
cause against a foreign enemy. At the root of this feeling lay 



ii6 RAWLINSON 

a conviction of identity of race. It was further fostered by 
the possession of a common language and a common Hterature ; 
of similar habits and ideas ; and of a common religion, of rites, 
temples, and festivals, which were equally open to all. 

The first state which attained to poHtical importance under 
the new condition of affairs in Greece was Argos. From Ar- 
gos, according to the tradition, went forth the Dorian colonists, 
who formed settlements in Epidaurus, Trcezen, Phlius, Sicyon, 
and Corinth ; while from some of these places a further exten- 
sion of Doric power was made, as from Epidaurus, which 
colonized ^gina and Epidaurus Limera, and from Corinth, 
which colonized Megara. Argos, the prolific mother of so 
many children, stood to most of them in the relation of pro- 
tectress, and almost of mistress. Her dominion reached, on 
the one hand, to the Isthmus ; on the other, to Cape Malea 
and the island of Cythera. For three or four centuries, from 
the Dorian conquest to the death of Pheidon (about B.C. 744), 
she was the leading power of the Peloponnese, a fact which 
she never forgot, and which had an important influence on her 
later history. 

The government of Argos was at the first a monarchy of the 
heroic type, the supreme power being hereditary in the house 
of the Temenidae, supposed descendants from Temenus the 
Heracleid, the eldest of the sons of Aristomachus. It was not 
long, however, before aspirations after political liberty arose, 
and, the power of the kings being greatly curtailed, a govern- 
ment, monarchical in form, but republican in reality, was es- 
tablished. This state of things lasted for some centuries ; but 
about B.C. 780 to 770, on the accession of a monarch of more 
than ordinary capacity, a certain Pheidon, a reaction set in. 
Pheidon not only recovered all the lost royal privileges, but, 
exceeding them, constituted himself the first known Grecian 
" tyrant." A great man in every way, he enabled Argos to 
exercise something like a practical hegemony over the whole 
Peloponnese. Under him, probably, were sent forth the col- 
onies which carried the Argive name to Crete, Rhodes, Cos, 
Cnidus, and Halicarnassus. The connection thus established 
with Asia led him to introduce into Greece coined money — a 
Lydian invention — and a system of weights and measures 



ANCIENT HISTORY 117 

{^€iB(tiveia fxeTpa) believed to have been identical with the 
Babylonian. 

After the death of Pheidon, Argos declined in power; the 
ties uniting the confederacy became relaxed ; the government 
returned to its previous form ; and the history of the state is 
almost a blank. No doubt the development of Spartan power 
was the main cause of this decline; but it may be attributed 
also, in part, to the lack of eminent men, and in part to the 
injudicious severity with which Argos treated her perioecic 
cities and her confederates. 

Among the other states of Greece, the two whose history is 
most ample and most interesting, even during this early period, 
are undoubtedly Sparta and Athens. Every " History of 
Greece " must vainly concern itself with the affairs of these 
two states, which are alone capable of being treated with any 
thing like completeness. 

History of Sparta. 

The Dorians, who in the eleventh century eflfected a lodg- 
ment in the upper valley of the Eurotas, occupied at first a 
narrow space between Taygetus and Parnon, extending north- 
ward no farther than the various head-streams of the Eurotas 
and ^nus rivers, and southward only to a little beyond Sparta. 
This was a tract about twenty-five miles long by twenty broad, 
the area of which might be 400 square miles. In the lower 
valley, from a little below Sparta to the sea, the Achseans still 
maintained themselves, having their capital at Amyclse, on the 
Eurotas, within two miles of the chief city of their enemies. 
Perpetual war went on between the two powers ; but Sparta 
for the space of three centuries made little or no advance 
southward, Amyclse commanding the valley, and the fortifi- 
cations of Amyclse defying her incessant attacks. Baffled in 
this quarter, she made attempts to reduce Arcadia, which failed, 
and even picked quarrels with her kindred states, Messenia 
and Argos, which led to petty wars of no consequence. 

The government of Sparta during this period underwent 
changes akin to those which took place in Argos. The mon- 
archs were at first absolute; but discontent soon manifested 
itself : concessions were made which were again revoked ; and 



ii8 RAWLINSON 

the whole period was one of internal struggle and disturbance. 
Nor were the differences between the kings and their Dorian 
subjects the only troubles of the time. The submitted Achge- 
ans, of whom there were many, were displeased at their treat- 
ment, murmured and even sometimes revolted, and being re- 
duced by force of arms were degraded to a lower position. 

The double monarchy, which, according to the tradition, had 
existed from the time of the conquest, and which was peculiar 
to Sparta among all the Greek states, dated really, it is prob- 
able, from the time of struggle, being a device of those who 
sought to limit and curtail the royal authority. The two kings, 
like the two consuls at Rome, acted as checks upon each other ; 
and the regal power, thus divided against itself, naturally be- 
came weaker and weaker. It had sunk, evidently, into a 
shadow of its former self, when Lycurgus, a member of the 
royal family, but not in the direct line of succession, gave to 
Sparta that constitution which raised her in a little while to 
a proud and wonderful eminence. 

The adoption of the Lycurgean system had the almost imme- 
diate effect of raising Sparta to the first place in Greece. Amy- 
else fell in the next generation to Lycurgus ; Pharis and Ge- 
ronthras submitted soon after. A generation later Helos was 
taken, and the whole valley of the Eurotas occupied. The 
Achaeans submitted, or retired to Italy. Wars followed with 
Arcadia and Argos, the latter of whom lost all her territory 
south of Cynuria. Quarrels began with Messenia, which led 
on to a great struggle. 

The conquest of Messenia by Sparta, which made her at 
once the dominant power of the Peloponnese, was the result 
of two great wars, each lasting about twenty years, and sepa- 
rated from each other by the space of about forty years. The 
wars seem to have been purely aggressive on the part of Sparta, 
and to have been prompted, in part, by the mere lust of con- 
quest, in part by dislike of the liberal policy which the Dorians 
of Messenia had adopted towards their Achsean subjects. De- 
spite the heroism of the Messenians and the assistance lent 
them by Arcadia and Argos, Sparta gained her object, in con- 
sequence of her superior military organization and training, 
joined to the advantage of her central position, which enabled 



ANCIENT HISTORY 119 

her to strike suddenly with her full force any one of her three 
foes. 

Closely connected with the Messenian wars were certain 
changes in the government and internal condition of Sparta, 
the general tendency of which was towards popularizing the 
constitution. The constant absence of the two kings from 
Sparta during the Messenian struggle increased the power 
of the Ephors, who, when no king was present, assumed that 
to them belonged the exercise of the royal functions. The 
loss of citizens in the wars led to the admission of new blood 
into the state, and probably caused the distinction into two 
classes of citizens (o/jloloI and v7rofiecove<; ), which is found 
to exist at a later date. The Ephors, elected annually by the 
entire body of the citizens, became the popular element in the 
government; and the gradual augmentation of their power 
was, in a certain sense, the triumph of the popular cause. At 
the same time it must be allowed that the constitutional 
changes made did not content the aspirations of the democratic 
party ; and that the colony sent out to Tarentum at once indi- 
cated, and relieved, the dissatisfaction of the lower grade of 
citizens. 

The conquest of Messenia was followed by some wars of less 
importance, which tended, however, to increase the power of 
Sparta, and to render her still more decidedly the leading state 
of Greece. Pisatis and Triphylia were reduced directly after 
the close of the second Messenian war, and were handed over 
to the Eleans. Arcadia was then attacked, but made a vigorous 
resistance ; and the sole fruit of a war which lasted three gen- 
erations was the submission of Tegea. Argos about the same 
time lost the Thyreatis (about B.C. 554) ; and Spartan influ- 
ence was thus extended over, perhaps, two-thirds of the Pelo- 
ponnese. 

Hitherto the efforts and even the views of Sparta had been 
confined to the narrow peninsula within which her own terri- 
tory lay ; but the course of events now led her to a fuller recog- 
nition of her own greatness, and, as a natural consequence, to 
active exertions in a more extended sphere. The embassy of 
Croesus in B.C. 555 was the first public acknowledgment which 
she received of her importance ; and the readiness with which 



I20 RAWLINSON 

she embraced the offer of alHance, and prepared an expedition 
to assist the Lydian monarch, indicates the satisfaction which 
she felt in the new prospects which were opening out on her. 
Thirty years later (B.C. 525), she actually sent an expedition, 
conjointly with Corinth, to the coast of Asia, which failed, 
however, to effect its object, the deposition of Polycrates of 
Samos. Soon afterwards (B.C. 510), she assumed the right of 
interference in the internal affairs of the Greek states beyond 
the Peloponnese, and by her repeated invasions of Attica, and 
her efforts in favor of the Athenian oligarchs, sowed the seeds 
of that fear and dislike with which she was for nearly a century 
and a half regarded by the great democratic republic. 

History of Athens. 

The traditional history of Athens commences with a Kingly 
Period. Monarchs of the old heroic type are said to have gov- 
erned the country from a time considerably anterior to the 
Trojan War down to the death of Codrus, B.C. 1300 to 1050. 
The most celebrated of these kings was Theseus, to whom is 
ascribed the crvvoiKi(T\i.o<^, whereby Athens became the capital 
of a centralized monarchy, instead of one out of many nearly 
equal country towns. Another king, Menestheus, was said to 
have fought at Troy. Codrus, the last of the monarchs, fell, 
according to the tradition, in resisting a Dorian invasion, made 
from the recently conquered Peloponnese. 

The Kingly Period was followed at Athens by the gradual 
development of an aristocracy. The Eupatrids had acquired 
power enough under the kings to abolish monarchy at the 
death of Codrus, and to substitute for it the life-archonship, 
which, though confined to the descendants of Codrus, was not 
a royal dignity, but a mere chief magistracy. The Eupatrids 
elected from among the qualified persons ; and the archon was, 
at least in theory, responsible. Thirteen such archons held 
office before any further change was made, their united reigns 
covering a space of about three centuries, B.C. 1050 to 752. 

On the death of Alcmgeon, the last archon for life, the Eu- 
patrids made a further change. Archons were to be elected 
for ten years only, so that responsibility could be enforced. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 121 

ex-archons being liable to prosecution and punishment. The 
descendants of Codrus were at first preserved in their old 
dignity ; but the fourth decennial archon, Hippomanes, being 
deposed for his cruelty, the right of the Medontidae was de- 
clared to be forfeited (B.C. 714), and the office was thrown open 
to all Eupatrids. 

Finally, after seven decennial archons had held office, the 
supreme power was put in commission (B.C. 684). In lieu 
of a single chief magistrate, a board of nine archons, annually 
elected, was set up, the original kingly functions being divided 
among them. The aristocracy was now fully installed in power, 
office being confined to Eupatrids, and every office being open 
to all such persons, Eupatrids alone having the suffrage, and 
the Agora itself, or general assembly of the people, having 
ceased to meet, or become purely formal and passive. 

The full triumph of the oligarchy did not very long precede 
the first stir of democratic life. Within sixty years of the time 
of complete aristocratical ascendency, popular discontent be- 
gan to manifest itself, and a demand for written laws arose, 
often the earliest cry of an oppressed people. Alarmed, but not 
intimidated, the nobles endeavored to crush the rising demo- 
cratic spirit by an unsparing severity ; their answer to the de- 
mands made on them was the legislation of Draco (B.C. 
624), which, by making death the penalty for almost all crimes, 
placed the very lives of the citizens at the disposal of the ruling 
order. The increased dissatisfaction which this legislation 
caused probably encouraged Cylon to make his rash attempt 
(B.C. 612), which was easily put down by the oligarchs; who, 
however, contrived to lose ground by their victory, incurring, 
as they did in the course of it, the guilt of sacrilege, and at 
the same time exasperating the people, who had hoped much 
from Cylon's effort. Under these circumstances, after a vain 
attempt had been made to quiet matters by the purification of 
Epimenides (B.C. 595), and after the political discontent had 
taken the new and dangerous shape involved in the formation 
of local factions (Pediaei, Parali, and Diacrii), Solon, an Eupat- 
rid, but of so poor a family that he had himself been engaged 
in trade, was by common consent intrusted with the task of 
framing a new constitution, B.C. 594. 



122 RAWLINSON 

The legislation of Solon, wise as it seems to moderns, was 
far from satisfying his contemporaries. Like most moderate 
politicians, he was accused by one party of having gone too 
far, by another of not having done enough. His personal in- 
fluence sufficed for a time to restrain the discontented; but 
when this influence was withdrawn (about B.C. 570), violent 
contentions broke out. The local factions revived. A strug- 
gle commenced between a reactionary party under Lycurgus, 
a conservative party under the Alcmaeonid Megacles, and a 
party of progress under Pisistratus, which terminated in the 
triumph of the last-named leader, who artfully turned his suc- 
cess to his own personal advantage by assuming the position 
of Dictator, or (as the Greeks called it) Tyrant, B.C. 560. 

The expulsion of the tyrant was followed by fresh troubles. 
A contest for power arose between Isagoras, the friend of Cle- 
omenes, and Clisthenes, the head of the Alcmaeonid family, 
which terminated in favor of the latter, despite the armed inter- 
ference of Sparta. Clisthenes, however, had to purchase his 
victory by an alliance with the democratical party; and the 
natural result of his success was a further change in the con- 
stitution, which was modified in a democratic sense. 

The establishment of democracy gave an impulse to the 
spirit of patriotism, which resulted almost immediately in some 
splendid military successes. Athens had for some time been 
growing in warlike power. Under Solon she had taken Sala- 
mis from Megara, and played an important part in the first 
Sacred War (B.C. 600 to 591). About B.C. 518, or a little 
earlier, she had accepted the protectorate of the Platseans. 
Now (B.C. 507) being attacked at one and the same time by 
Sparta, by Boeotia, and by the Chalcideans of Euboea, she com- 
pletely triumphed over the coalition. The Spartan kings quar- 
relled, and the force under their command withdrew without 
risking a battle. The Boeotians and Chalcideans were signally 
defeated. Chalcis itself was conquered and occupied. A naval 
struggle with ^gina, the ally of Boeotia, followed, during the 
continuance of which the first hostilities took place between 
Athens and Persia. Proud of her recent victories, and con- 
fident in her strength, Athens complied with the request of 
Aristagoras, and sent twenty ships to support the revolt which 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



123 



threatened to deprive the Great King of the whole sea-board 
of Asia Minor. Though the burning of Sardis was followed 
by the defeat of Ephesus, yet the Persian monarch deemed his 
honor involved in the further chastisement on her own soil of 
the audacious power which had presumed to invade his do- 
minions. An attempt to conquer Greece would, no doubt, have 
been made even without provocation; but the part taken by 
Athens in the Ionic revolt precipitated the struggle. It was 
well that the contest came when it did. Had it been delayed 
until Athens had grown into a rival to Sparta, the result might 
have been different. Greece might then have succumbed ; and 
European freedom and civilization, trampled under foot by the 
hordes of Asia, might have been unable to recover itself. 



Part II. 

History of the other Grecian States. 

The history of the smaller states will be most conveniently 
given under the five heads of the Peloponnesian States ; the 
States of Central Greece ; those of Northern Greece ; those 
situated in the islands ; and those which either were, or were 
regarded as, colonies 

Smaller Peloponnesian States. 

Achsea. — The traditions said that when the Dorians con- 
quered Sparta, the Spartan king Tisamenus, son of Orestes, led 
the Achaeans northward, and, expelling the lonians from the 
tract which lay along the Corinthian Gulf, set up an Achaean 
kingdom in those parts, which lasted for several generations. 
Ogygus, however, the latest of these monarchs, having left be- 
hind him sons of a tyrannical temper, the Achaeans destroyed 
the monarchy, and set up a federal republic. Twelve cities 
composed the league, which were originally Pellene, ^geira 
(or Hyparesia), ^gse, Bura, Helice, ^gium, Rhypes, Patrae, 
Pharae, Olenus, Dyme, and Tritsea, all situated on or near the 
coast except the last two, which were in the interior. The 
common place of meeting for the league was Helice, where an 



124 RAWLINSON 

annual festival was held, and common sacrifices were offered 
to Heliconian Neptune. The constitution of the several cities 
is said to have been democratic. The league was, no doubt, 
political as well as religious; but no details are known of it. 
According to Polybius it was admired for its fairness and equal- 
ity, and was taken as a model by the cities of Magna Graecia in 
the early part of the fifth century. We may gather from Thucy d- 
ides that it was of the loose type so common in Greece. The 
Achaeans seem to have manifested in the early times a dispo- 
sition to stay at home and to keep aloof from the quarrels of 
their neighbors. Hence the history of the country scarcely 
begins till the time of Antigonus, from which period the league 
formed a nucleus round which independent Greece rallied itself. 
Arcadia. — The Arcadians were regarded as aboriginal in- 
habitants of their country. They called themselves 'TrpoaiXrjvoi. 
The Dorian conquests in the Peloponnese left them untouched ; 
and they retained to a late date, in their remote valleys and cold 
high mountain pastures, very primitive habits. The tradition 
makes the entire country form, in the old times, a single mon- 
archy, which continues till B.C. 668; but it may be doubted 
whether there had really ever existed in Arcadia any thing 
more than an Amphictyonic union prior to Epaminondas. 
The whole country is physically broken up into separate val- 
leys and basins, whose inhabitants would naturally form sep- 
arate and distinct communities, while retaining a certain sense 
of ethnic relationship. The most important of these communi- 
ties were Mantinea and Tegea, neighboring towns, between 
which there were frequent wars. Next to these may be placed 
Orchomenus, Pheneus, and Stymphalus towards the north- 
east ; Cleitor and Hersea towards the west ; and Phigaleia, on 
the north-western border, near Messenia. The Arcadians, 
however, loved villages rather than towns ; and the numerous 
population was chiefly located in small hamlets scattered about 
the mountains. Arcadia was subject to constant aggressions 
at the hands of Sparta, which she sought to revenge upon fit- 
ting occasions. These aggressions began in the times previous 
to Lycurgus (see p. 117), and continued afterwards almost con- 
stantly. In retaliation, the Arcadians assisted Messenia 
throughout both the Messenian wars. Tegea, as the nearest 



ANCIENT HISTORY 125 

state to Sparta, suffered most at her hands ; and after a long 
struggle, it would seem that Arcadia generally (about B.C. 
560) acknowledged the Lacedaemonian hegemony, placing her 
full military strength at the disposal of Sparta in her wars, but 
retaining her internal independence. Mantinea even, upon oc- 
casions, thwarted the policy of Sparta. 

Corinth. — Corinth, a rich and famous city even in the times 
anterior to the Doric conquests, was occupied by Dorian set- 
tlers from Argos soon after the reduction of that state. A mon- 
archy was established under kings who claimed descent from 
Hercules, twelve such rulers holding the throne during the 
space of 327 years. At the end of this time monarchy was ex- 
changed for oligarchy, power remaining (as at Athens) in the 
hands of a branch of the royal family, the Bacchiadse, who in- 
termarried only among themselves, and elected each year from 
their own body a Prytanis, or chief magistrate. This state of 
things continued for ninety years, when a revolution was ef- 
fected by Cypselus, who, having ingratiated himself with the 
people, rose up against the oligarchs, expelled them, and made 
himself tyrant. Cypselus reigned from B.C. 657 to 627, when 
he was succeeded by his son, Periander, who reigned from B.C. 
627 to 587. A third monarch of the dynasty, Psammeticlius, 
the nephew or grandson of Periander, mounted the throne, but 
was expelled, after a reign of three years, by the people, per- 
haps assisted by Sparta, B.C. 584. The time of the Cypselids 
was one of great material wealth and prosperity; literature 
and the arts flourished ; commerce was encouraged ; colonies 
were sent out ; and the hegemony of the mother country over 
her colonies successfully asserted. (The chief Corinthian 
settlements were Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, Anactorium, 
Epidamnus, Apollonia, Syracuse, and Potidaea. Of these, Am- 
bracia, Leucas, Anactorium, Epidamnus, Apollonia, and Poti- 
dsea were content to be subject. Corcyra generally asserted 
independence, but was forced to submit to the Cypselids. Syr- 
acuse must have been from the first practically independent.) 
After the downfall of the tyrants, who are said to have ruled 
harshly, a republic was established on a tolerably wide basis. 
Power was placed in the hands of the wealthy class ; and even 
commerce and trade were no bars to the holding of office. 



126 RAWLINSON 

Corinth became one of the richest of the Greek states ; but, as 
she increased in wealth, she sank in poHtical importance. Re- 
gard for her material interests induced her to accept the pro- 
tection of Sparta, and from about B.C. 550 she became merely 
the second power in the Spartan league, a position which she 
occupied with slight interruptions till B.C. 394. 

Elis. — The settlement of the ^tolo-Dorians under Oxylus 
(see p. 113) had been made in the more northern portion of the 
country, between the Larisus and the Ladon or Selleis. The 
region south of this as far as the Neda remained in the posses- 
sion of the old inhabitants, and was divided into two districts, 
Pisatis, or the tract between the Ladon and the Alpheus, of 
which Pisa was the capital, and Triphylia, the tract between the 
Alpheus and the Neda, of which the chief city was Lepreum. 
The Eleans, however, claimed a hegemony over the whole 
country; and this claim gave rise to frequent wars, in which 
the Eleans had the advantage, though they never succeeded 
in completely absorbing even Pisatis. The chief importance 
of Elis was derived from the celebration within her territory 
of the Olympic Games, a festival originally Pisan, of which the 
direction was assumed by the Eleans, but constantly disputed 
by the Pisatans. Sparta in the early times supported the Elean 
claims ; but in and after the Peloponnesian struggle it became 
her policy to uphold the independence of Lepreum. The Eleans 
dwelt chiefly in villages till after the close of the great Persian 
War, when the city of Elis was first founded, B.C. 477. 

Sicyon. — Sicyon was believed to have been one of the oldest 
cities in Greece, and to have had kings of its own at a very 
remote period. Homer, however, represents it as forming, at 
the time of the Trojan War, part of the dominions of Agamem- 
non. Nothing can be said to be really known of Sicyon until 
the time of the Doric immigration into the Peloponnese, when 
it was occupied by a body of Dorians from Argos, at whose 
head was Phalces, son of Temenus. A Heracleid monarchy 
was established in the line of this prince's descendants, which 
was superseded after some centuries by an oligarchy. Power 
during this period was wholly confined to the Dorians; the 
native non-Doric element in the population, which was numer- 
ous, being destitute of political privilege. But towards the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 127 

beginning of the seventh century B.C. a change occurred. 
Orthagoras, a non-Dorian, said to have been by profession a 
cook, subverted the ohgarchy, estabHshed himself upon the 
throne, and quietly transferred the predominance in the state 
from the Dorian to the non-Dorian population. He left his 
throne to his posterity, who ruled for above a hundred years. 
Clisthcnes, the last monarch of the line, adding insult to injury, 
changed the names of the Dorian tribes in Sicyon from Hyllaei, 
Dymanes, and Pamphyli, to Hyatae, Oneatse, and Chaereatae, or 
" Pig-folk," " Ass-folk," and " Swine-folk." He reigned from 
about B.C. 595 to 560. About sixty years after his death, the 
Dorians in Sicyon seem to have recovered their preponderance, 
and the state became one of the most submissive members of 
the Lacedaemonian confederacy. 

Smaller States of Central Greece. 

Megaris. — Megaris was occupied by Dorians from Corinth, 
shortly after the great immigration into the Peloponnese. At 
first the colony seems to have been subject to the mother coun- 
try ; but this subjection was soon thrown ofif, and we find Cor- 
inth fomenting quarrels among the various Megarian towns — 
Megara, Hersea, Peirsea, Tripodiscus, and Cynosura — in the 
hope of recovering her influence. About B.C. 726 the Corin- 
thians seem to have made an attempt at conquest, which was 
repulsed by Orsippus, the Olympian runner. Nearly at the 
same time commenced the series of Megarian colonies, which 
form so remarkable a feature in the history of this state. The 
first of these was Megara Hyblsea, near Syracuse, founded 
(according to Thucydides) in B.C. 728, from which was sent 
out a sub-colony to Selinus ; then followed Chalcedon, in B.C. 
674; Byzantium, in B.C. 657; Selymbria, in B.C. 662 ; Herac- 
lea Pontica, in B.C. 559; and Chersonesus, near the modern 
Sebastopol, not long afterwards. The naval power of Megara 
must have been considerable ; and it is not surprising to find 
that about this time (B.C. 600) she disputed with Athens the 
possession of Salamis. Her despot, Theagenes, was an enter- 
prising and energetic monarch. Rising to power as the repre- 
sentative of the popular cause (about B.C. 630), he supported 



128 RAWLINSON 

his son-in-law, Cylon, in his attempt to occupy a similar 
position at Athens. He adorned Megara with splendid build- 
ings. He probably seized Salamis, and gained the victories 
which induced the Athenians for a time to put up with their 
loss. On his deposition by the oligarchs (about B.C. 600), 
the war was renewed — Nissea was taken by Pisistratus, and 
Salamis recovered by Cylon. The oligarchs ruled without 
bloodshed, but still oppressively; so that shortly afterwards 
there was a second democratic revolution. Debts were now 
abolished, and even the return of the interest paid on them 
exacted {iraXtvTOKLa). The rich were forced to entertain the 
poor in their houses. Temples and pilgrims are said to have 
been plundered. Vast numbers of the nobles were banished. 
At length the exiles were so numerous that they formed an 
army, invaded the country, and, reinstating themselves by 
force, established a somewhat narrow oligarchy, which ruled 
at least till B.C. 460. - 

Boeotia. — When the Boeotians, expelled from Arne by the | 
Thessalians, settled in the country to which they henceforth 
gave name, expelling from it in their turn the Cadmgeans, 
Minyae, etc., they seem to have divided themselves into as 
many states as there were cities. What the form of govern- 
ment in the several states was at first is uncertain ; we can only 
say that there is no trace of monarchy, and that as soon as we 
obtain a glimpse of the internal affairs of any of them, they are 
oligarchical republics. The number of the states seems to have 
been originally fourteen, but by the time of the Peloponnesian 
War it had dwindled to ten, partly by a process of absorption, 
partly by separation. Oropus, Eleutherse, and Plat^a had been 
lost to Athens ; Chgeroneia had been incorporated with Or- i 
chomenus ; the remaining ten states were Thebes, Orchomenus, t 
Thespiae, Lebadeia, Coroneia, Copae, Haliartus, Tanagra, An- 
thedon, and perhaps Chalia. Between these states there had 
existed, probably from the first, an Amphictyony, or religious 
union, which had the temple of Itonian Athene near Coroneia ■' 
for its centre ; and there took place once a year the celebration 
of the Pamboeotia, or general festival of the Boeotians. By 
degrees, out of this religious association there grew up a fed- 
eral union; the states recognized themselves as constituting 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



129 



a single political unit, and arranged among themselves a real 
federal government. The supreme authority was placed in the 
hands of a council ifiovXi'i), which had a curious fourfold divi- 
sion ; while the executive functions were exercised by eleven 
BcEotarchs (two from Thebes, one from each of the other cities), 
who were at once the generals of the league and its presiding 
magistrates. Though the place of meeting;," for the council 
seems to have been Coroneia, yet Thebes by her superior size 
and power obtained an undue predominance in the confedera- 
tion, and used it in such a way as to excite the jealousy and 
disafifection of almost all the other cities. As early as B.C. 510, 
Plataea was driven to detach herself from the confederation, 
and to put herself under the protection of Athens. In later 
times Thespise made more than one attempt to follow the Pla- 
taean example, B.C. 423 and 414. The readiness of Athens to 
receive and protect revolted members of the league was among 
the causes of that hostility which Boeotia was always ready 
to display towards her ; and the general tendency of members 
of the league to revolt was among the chief causes of that po- 
litical weakness which Boeotia exhibits, as compared with 
Athens and Sparta. 

Phocis. — There can be no doubt that Phocis was, like Boeo- 
tia, a confederation ; but from the comparative insignificance 
of the state no details of the constitution have come down to 
us. The place of meeting for the deputies seems to have been 
an isolated building (to ^wkikov) on the route from Daulis to 
Delphi. No Phocian city had any such preponderance as be- 
longed to Thebes among the cities of Boeotia, and hence the 
league appears to have been free from those perpetual jeal- 
ousies and heartburnings which we remark in the neighboring 
country. Still certain secessions from the confederacy appear 
to have taken place, as that of Delphi, and, again, that of 
Cirrha, which was a separate state about B.C. 600. A constant 
enmity existed between Phocis and Thessaly, consequent upon 
the attempts made by the Thessalians from time to time to 
conquer the country. These attempts were successfully re- 
sisted ; but they were so far injurious to the independence of 
Phocis, that they produced a tendency to lean on Boeotia and 
to look to her for aid. Still, the military history of Phocis 
9 



I30 RAWLINSON 

down to the close of the Persian War is creditable to the nation, 
which frequently repulsed the invasions of the Thessalians, and 
which offered a brave resistance to the enormous host of 
Xerxes. 

Locris. — There were three countries of this name ; and 
though a certain ethnic connection between them may be as- 
sumed from the conmion appellation, yet politically the three 
countries appear to have been entirely separate and distinct. 
The Locri Ozolae (the " stinking Locri ") possessed the largest 
and most important tract, that lying between Parnassus and 
the Corinthian Gulf, bounded on the west by .^tolia. They 
probably formed a confederacy under the presidency of Am- 
phissa. The Locri Epicnemidii, or Locrians of Mount Cnemis, 
and the Locri Opuntii, or those of Opus, were separated from 
their western brethren by the whole breadth of the territory 
of Phocis. They were also separated from each other, but only 
a narrow strip or tongue of Phocian territory, which ran down 
to the Euripus at the town of Daphnus. Of the internal or- 
ganization of the Epicnemidii we know nothing. The Opun- 
tians were probably a confederacy under the hegemony of 
Opus. 

.(^tolia. — ^tolia, the country of Diomed, though famous in 
the early times, fell back during the migratory period almost 
into a savage condition, probably through the influx into it of 
an Illyrian population which became only partially Hellenized. 
The nation was divided into numerous tribes, among which 
the most important were the Apodoti, the Ophioneis, the Eu- 
rytanes, and the Agrjeans. There were scarcely any cities, 
village life being preferred universally. No traces appear of 
a confederation of the tribes until the time of Alexander, though 
in times of danger they could unite for purposes of defense 
against the common enemy. The Agrseans, so late as the Pelo- 
ponnesian War, were under the government of a king: the 
political condition of the other tribes is unknown. It was not 
till the wars which arose among Alexander's successors that 
the ^tolians formed a real political union, and became an im- 
portant power in Greece. 

Acarnania. — The Acarnanians were among the more back- 
ward of the Greek nations in the historical times, but they 



ANCIENT HISTORY 131 

were considerably more advanced than the yEtoHans. They 
possessed a number of cities, among which the most important 
were Stratus, Amphilochian Argos, and CEniadae. From a very 
remote date they had formed themselves into a federation, 
which not only held the usual assemblies for federal purposes 
(probably at Stratus), but had also a common Court of Justice 
(StKaa-rrjpLov) for the decision of causes, at Olpse. There was 
great jealousy between the native Acarnanians and the colonies 
planted by the Corinthians on or near their coasts, Ambracia, 
Leucas, Anactorium, SoUium, and Astacus, which in the early 
times certainly did not belong to the league. The league itself 
was of the lax character usual in Greece, and allowed of the 
several cities forming their own alliances, and even taking op- 
posite sides in a war. 



States of Northern Greece. 

Thessaly. — The Thesprotian conquerors of Thessaly estab- 
lished a condition of things in that country not very unlike that 
which the Dorians introduced into Laconia. The conquerors 
themselves formed a noble class which claimed the ownership 
of most of the territory and confined to itself the possession 
of political power. The conquered were reduced to two very 
different positions : some retained their personal freedom and 
the right to their lands, but were made subject to tribute; 
others (the Penestae) were reduced to the condition of serfs, 
cultivating the lands of their masters, but were protected in 
their holdings, could not be sold out of the country, and both 
might and did often acquire considerable property. The chief 
dififerences between the two countries were (i) that in Thessaly 
the intermediate class, Achasans, Magnetes, Perrhaebi, etc., 
instead of being scattered over the country and intermixed 
with the nobles and serfs, were the sole occupants of certain dis- 
tricts, retained their old ethnic name, their Arnphictyonic vote, 
and their governmental organization ; and (2) that the con- 
querors, instead of concentrating themselves in one city, took 
possession of several, establishing in each a distinct and sep- 
arate government. The governments seem to have been orig- 



132 



RAWLINSON 



inally monarchies, which merged in aristocracies, wherein one 
family held a quasi-royal position. The Aleuadae at Larissa 
and Pharsalus (?) and the Scopadae at Cranon correspond 
closely to the Medontidse at Athens. A federal tie of the 
weakest character united the several states of Thessaly in 
ordinary times; but upon occasions this extreme laxity was 
replaced by a most stringent centralization. A Tagus (Com- 
mander-in-Chief) of all Thessaly was appointed, who exer- 
cised powers little short of despotic over the whole country. 
Such, apparently, was the power wielded (about B.C. 510) by 
Cineas, and such beyond all question was the dominion of Ja- 
son of Pherse, and his three brothers, Polydorus, Polyphron, 
and Alexander, B.C. 380 to 356. In the remoter times Thess- 
aly was aggressive and menaced the independence of the states 
of Central Greece ; but from the dawn of exact history to the 
time of Jason her general policy was peaceful, and, except as 
an occasional ally of Athens, she is not found to have taken any 
part in the internal quarrels of the Greeks. Her aristocracies 
were selfish, luxurious, and devoid of patriotic feeling: con- 
tent with their position at home, they did not desire the glory 
of foreign conquest. Thus Thessaly plays a part in the history 
of Greece very disproportioned to her power and resources, 
not rising into any importance till very shortly before the Mace- 
donian period. 

Epirus. — Anterior to the Persian wars, and indeed until the 
time of Philip of Macedon, Epirus was a mere geographical 
expression, designating no ethnic nor political unity. The 
tract so called was parcelled out among a number of states, 
some of which were Greek, others barbarian. Of these the 
chief were : (i) the semi-barbarous kingdom of the Molossians, 
ruled over a family which claimed descent from Achilles — a 
constitutional monarchy, where the king and people alike 
swore to observe the laws ; (2) the kingdom of the Orestae, 
barbarian; (3) the kingdom of the Parausei, likewise barba- 
rian ; (4) the republic of the Chaonians, barbarian, administered 
by two annual magistrates chosen out of a singk ruling family ; 
(5) the republic of the Thesprotians, barbariaTi ; and (6) the 
Ambracian republic, Greek, a colony and dependency of Cor- 
inth. By alliance with Philip of Macedon, the Molossian kings 



ANCIENT HISTORY 133 

were enabled to bring the Epirotic states under their dominion, 
about B.C. 350. After their fall, B.C. 239, Epirus became a 
federal republic. 

Greek Insular States. 

Corey ra. — Corcyra, the most western of the Greek islands, 
was colonized from Corinth about B.C. 730. — From the fer- 
tiHty of the island, and the advantages of its situation, the set- 
tlement soon became important : a jealousy sprang up between 
it and the mother country, which led to hostilities as early as 
B.C. 670. During the rule of the Cypselid princes at Corinth, 
Corcyra was forced to submit to them ; but soon after their 
fall independence was recovered. From this time till the com- 
mencement of the Peloponnesian War, the commerce and 
naval power of Corcyra went on increasing; so early as the 
time of the invasion of Xerxes (B.C. 480) their navy was the 
second in Greece, and just before the Peloponnesian War it 
amounted to 120 triremes. The government was a republic, 
which fluctuated between aristocracy and democracy; party 
spirit ran high; and both sides were guilty of grievous ex- 
cesses. 

Cephallenia. — This island, though considerably larger than 
Corcyra, and exceedingly fertile, was politically insignificant. 
It contained four cities, each of which was a distinct state. Pale, 
Cranii, Same, and Pronus or Pronesus. Probably the four 
were united in a sort of loose confederation. Pale seems to 
have been the most important of the cities. 

Zacynthus, which was originally peopled by Achaeans from 
the Peloponnese, formed an independent state till the time of 
the Athenian confederacy. It had a single city, of the same 
name with the island itself, and is chiefly noted in the early 
ages as furnishing an asylum to fugitives from Sparta. 

^gina is said to have been occupied by Dorian colonists 
from Epidaurus shortly after the invasion of the Peloponnese. 
It was at first completely dependent on the mother country ; 
but, growing in naval power, it in a little time shook off the 
yoke, and became one of the most flourishing of the Grecian 
communities. The ^ginetans early provoked the jealousy of 



134 



RAWLINSON 



Samos, and a war followed between the two powers, which had 
no very important consequences. About B.C. 500, ^Egina 
found a more dangerous rival in her near neighbor, Athens, 
whose growing greatness she endeavored to check, in combi- 
nation with Bceotia. A naval war, which lasted about twenty 
years, was terminated, B.C. 481, by the common danger which 
threatened all Greece from the armament collected by Xerxes, 
yEgina played an important part in the Persian struggle ; but 
still it was one of the effects of the war to exalt her rival, 
Athens, to a very decided pre-eminence above all the other 
naval powers of Greece. Not content, however, with mere pre- 
ponderance. Athens, on breaking with Sparta, B.C. 461, pro- 
ceeded to crush .^gina, which resisted for four years, but in 
B.C. 457 became an Athenian dependency. 

Euboea. — This large island contained a number of separate 
and independent states, whereof the two most important were 
Eretria and Chalcis. These cities rose to eminence at an early 
period, and contended together in a great war, wherein most 
of the Greeks of Europe, and even some from Asia, took part. 
The balance of advantage seems to have rested with Chalcis, 
which in the later times always appears as the chief city of the 
island. Chalcis sent out numerous and important colonies, 
as Cuma and Rhegium in Italy ; Naxos, Leontini, Catana, and 
Zancle in Sicily ; Olynthus, Torone, and many other places on 
the coast of Thrace. Its constitution was oligarchical, the chief 
power being lodged in the hands of the " Horse-keepers " 
{linro^oTai), or Knights. About B.C. 500, Chalcis was in- 
duced to join the Spartans and Boeotians in an attempt to crush 
Athens, which failed, and cost Chalcis its independence. The 
lands of the Hippobotse were confiscated, and an Athenian col- 
ony established in the place. Chalcis, together with the rest 
of Euboea, revolted from Athens in B.C. 445, but was again 
reduced by Pericles. In the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 411, 
better success attended a second effort. 

The Cyclades. — These islands are said to have been origi- 
nally peopled by Carians from Asia Minor ; but about the time 
of the great migrations (B.C. 1200 to 1000) they were occupied 
by the Greeks, the more northern by Ionian, the more southern 
by Dorian adventurers. After a while an Ionian Amphictyony 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



135 



grew up in the northern group, having the islet of Delos for 
its centre, and the Temple of Apollo there for its place of meet- 
ing; whence the position occupied by Delos on the formation 
of the Athenian confederacy. The largest, and, politically 
speaking, most important of the Cyclades were Andros and 
Naxos ; the former of which founded the colonies of Acanthus, 
Sane, Argilus, and Stageirus in Thrace, while the latter re- 
pulsed a Persian attack in B.C. 501, and contended against the 
whole force of Athens in B.C. 466. Paros, famous for its 
marble, may be placed next to Andros and Naxos. It was the 
mother city of Thasos, and of Pharos in Illyria. Little is 
known of the constitutional history of any of the Cyclades. 
Naxos, however, seems to have gone through the usual course 
of Greek revohitionary change, being governed by an oligarchy 
until the time of Lygdamis (B.C. 540 to 530), who, professing 
to espouse the popular cause, made himself king. His tyranny 
did not last long, and an oligarchy was once more established, 
which in its turn gave way to a democracy before B.C. 501. 

Lemnos. — This island, which had a Thracian population in 
the earliest times and then a Pelasgic one, was first Hellenized 
after its conquest, about B.C. 500, by the great Miltiades. It 
was from this time regarded as an Athenian possession, and 
seems to have received a strong body of colonists from Athens. 
Lemnos contained two towns, Hephaestia and Myrina, which 
formed separate states at the time of the Athenian conquest. 
Hephaestia was at that time under a king. 

Thasos, which was peculiarly rich in minerals, was early 
colonized by the Phoenicians, who worked the mines very suc- 
cessfully, lonians from Paros Hellenized it about B.C. 720 to 
700, and soon raised it into a powerful state. Settlements were 
made by the Thasians upon the main-land opposite their north- 
ern shores, whereof the most important were Scapte-Hyle and 
Datum. The gold-mines in this quarter were largely worked, 
and in B.C. 492 the Thasians had an annual revenue of from 
200 to 300 talents (£48,000 to £72,000). In B.C. 494, Histiseus 
of Miletus attempted to reduce the island, but failed; it was, 
however, in the following year forced to submit to the Persians. 
On the defeat of Xerxes, Thasos became a member of the 
Athenian confederacy, but revolting, B.C. 465, was attacked 



136 RAWLINSON 

and forced to submit, B.C. 463. In the Peloponnesian War an- 
other revolt (B.C. 411) was again followed by submission, B.C. 
408, and Thasos thenceforth continued, except for short inter- 
vals, subject to Athens. 

Crete. — The population of Crete in the early times was of a 
very mixed character. Homer enumerates among its in- 
habitants Achseans, Eteocretes, Cydonians, Dorians, and 
Pelasgi. Of these the Eteocretes and Cydonians were even 
farther removed than the Pelasgi from the Hellenic type. In 
the early days the Cretans were famous pirates, whence prob- 
ably the traditions of Minos and his naval power. Whether 
the Dorian population was really settled in the island from a 
remote antiquity, or reached Crete from the Peloponnese after 
the Dorian conquest of the Achaean kingdoms, is a disputed 
point ; but the latter view is, on the whole, the more probable. 
In the historical times the Dorian element had a decided pre- 
ponderance over all the rest, and institutions prevailed in all 
the chief cities which had a strong resemblance to those of 
Sparta. The Spartan division of the freemen into citizens and 
periooci existed only in Crete ; and, though the latter country 
had no Helots, their place was supplied by slaves, public and 
private, who cultivated the lands for their masters. Among 
these last a system of syssitia, closely resembling the Spartan, 
was established ; and a military training similar in character, 
though less severe. The island was parcelled out among a 
number of separate states, often at war with one another, but 
wise enough to unite generally against a common enemy. Of 
these states the most powerful were Gnossus and Gortyna, each 
of which aspired to exercise a hegemony over the whole island. 
Next in importance was Cydonia, and in later times Lyctus, 
or Lyttus. Originally the cities were ruled by hereditary 
kings ; but ere long their places were taken by elected Cosmi, 
ten in each community, who held oiifice for a certain period, 
probably a year, and were chosen from certain families. Side 
by side with this executive board, there existed in each com- 
munity a senate (yepovala), composed of all who had served the 
office of Cosmos with credit, and constituting really the chief 
power in the state. There was, further, an assembly {eKK\7}<na) 
comprising all the citizens, which accepted or rejected the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 137 

measures submitted to it, but had no initiative, and no power of 
debate or amendment. Crete took no part in the general af- 
fairs of Greece till after the time of Alexander. It maintained 
a policy of abstinence during both the Persian and Pelopon- 
nesian Wars. The military character of the Cretans was, how- 
ever, maintained, both by the frequent quarrels of the states 
one with another, and by the common practice of taking ser- 
vice as mercenaries. 

Cyprus. — This island seems to have been originally occu- 
pied by the Kittim, a Japhetic race, who left their name in the 
old capital, Citium {Kltlov). Soon after the first development 
of Phoenician power, however, it passed into the possession of 
that people, who long continued the predominant race in the 
island. When Hellenic colonists first began to flow into it is 
doubtful ; but there is evidence that by the time of Sargon 
(B.C. 720 to 700) a large portion of the island was Greek, and 
under Esarhaddon all the cities, except Paphos, Tamisus, and 
Aphrodisias, appeared to have been ruled by Greek kings. 
Cyprus seems scarcely ever for any length of time to have been 
mdependent. It was held by the Phoenicians from about B.C. 
1 100 to 725, by the Assyrians from about B.C. 700 to 650, by 
the Egyptians from about B.C. 550 to 525, and by the Persians 
from B.C. 525 to 333. The most important of the cities, 
which, by whomsoever founded, eventually became Greek, 
were Salamis and Ammochosta (now Famagusta) on the east- 
ern coast ; Citium, Curium, and Paphos on the southern ; Soli 
and Lapethus on the northern ; and Limenia, Tamasus, and 
Idalium in the interior. Amathus continued always Phoeni- 
cian. The most flourishing of the Greek states was Salamis ; 
and the later history of the island is closely connected with 
that of the Salaminian kings. Among these were: i. Evel- 
thon, contemporary with Arcesilaus III. of Gyrene, about B.C. 
530 ; 2. Gorgus ; and 3. Onesilus, contemporary with Darius 
Hystaspis, B.C. 520 to 500. The latter joined in the Ionian re- 
volt, but was defeated and slain. 4. Evagoras I., contem- 
porary with Artaxerxes Longimanus, B.C. 449. 5. Evagoras 
II., contemporary with Artaxerxes Mnemon, B.C. 391 to 370. 
This prince rebelled, and, assisted by the Athenians and Egyp- 
tians, carried on a long war against the Persians, but, after the 



138 RAWLINSON 

Peace of Antalciclas, was forced to submit, B.C. 380, retaining, 
however, his sovereignty. 6. Protagoras, brother of Evago- 
ras II., contemporary with Artaxerxes Ochus, B.C. 350. He 
banished Evagoras, son of Evagoras II., and joined the great 
revolt which followed Ochus's first and unsuccessful expedi- 
tion against Egypt. This revolt was put down before B.C. 
346, by the aid of mercenaries commanded by Phocion ; and 
thenceforth Cyprus continued faithful to Persia, till Alexan- 
der's victory at Issus, when the nine kings of the island volun- 
tarily transferred their allegiance to Macedon, B.C. 333. 

Greek Colonies. 

The number of the Greek colonies, and their wide diffusion, 
are very remarkable. From the extreme recess of the Sea of 
Azov to the mouth of the Mediterranean, almost the entire 
coast, both of continents and islands, was studded with the 
settlements of this active and energetic people. Most thickly 
were these sown towards the north and the north-east, more 
sparingly towards the south and west, where a rival civilization 
— the Phoenician — cramped, though it could not crush, Gre- 
cian enterprise, Carthage and Tyre would fain have kept ex- 
clusively in their own hands these regions ; but the Greeks 
forced themselves in here and there, as in Egypt and in the 
Cyrenaica ; while of their own northern shore, except in Spain, 
they held exclusive possession, meeting their rivals in the isl- 
ands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and Cyprus. 

The main causes of the spread of the Greeks from their 
proper home in the Hellenic peninsula, over so many and such 
distant regions, were two in number. The race was prolific, 
and often found itself cramped for room, either from the mere 
natural increase of population, or from the pressure upon it 
of larger and more powerful nations. Hence arose move- 
ments which were, properly speaking, migrations, though the 
term "colonization" has been improperly applied to them. To 
this class belong the ^olian, Ionian, and Dorian settlements 
in Asia, and the Achaean in Italy. But the more usual cause of 
movement was commercial or political enterprise, the state 
which founded a settlement being desirous of extending its in- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 139 

fluence or its trade into a new region. Such settlements were 
colonies proper ; and between these and the mother country 
there was always, at any rate at first, a certain connection, 
which was absent in the case of settlements arising out of mi- 
grations. Occasionally individual caprice or political disturb- 
ance led to the foundation of a new city ; but such cases were 
comparatively rare, and require only a passing mention. 

The colonies proper of the Greeks were of two kinds, 
cvKOiKiai and K\r]pov')(iai. In the former, the political connec- 
tion between the mother country and the colony was slight 
and weak; in the latter, it was exceedingly close and strong. 
'AiroiKiat were, in fact, independent communities, attached to 
the mother country merely by afifection and by certain gener- 
ally prevalent usages, which, however, were neither altogether 
obligatory nor very definite. The colony usually worshipped 
as a hero its original founder (ot/cto-r?;?), and honored the same 
gods as the parent city. It bore part in the great festivals of 
its metropolis, and contributed ofiferings to them. It distin- 
guished by special honors at its own games and festivals the 
citizens of the parent community. It used the same emblems 
upon its coins. Its chief-priests were, in some instances, 
drawn continually from the mother state ; and, if it designed 
to found a new settlement itself, it sought a leader from the 
same quarter. War between a parent city and a colony was 
regarded as impious, and a certain obligation lay on each to 
assist the other in times of danger. But the observance of 
these various usages was altogether voluntary ; no attempt was 
ever made to enforce them, the complete political indepen- 
dence of the aTTOLKia being always understood and acknowl- 
edged. In the K\r}pov)(^La the case was wholly different. There 
the state sent out a body of its citizens to form a new com- 
munity in territory which it regarded as its own ; the settlers 
retained all their rights as citizens of their old country, and in 
their new one were mainly a garrison intended to maintain the 
authority of those who sent them out. The dependence of 
K\,r]pov')(^LaL on the parent state was thus entire and absolute. 
The cleruchs were mainly citizens of their old state, to whom 
certain special duties had been assigned and certain benefits 
granted. 



T40 RAWLINSON 

The Greek settlements of whatsoever kind may be divided 
geographically into the Eastern, the Western, and the South- 
ern. Under the first head will come those of the eastern and 
northern shores of the ^gean, those of the Propontis, of the 
Black Sea, and of the Sea of Azov ; under the second, those of 
Italy, Sicily, Gaul, Spain, and the adjacent islands ; under the 
third, those of Africa. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Wars with Persia, B.C. 500, 
to the Battle of Choeroneia, B.C. 338.* 

The tendency of the Greek States, in spite of their separatist 
leanings, towards consolidation and union round one or more 
centres, has been already noticed. Up to the date of the Per- 

* Sources. For the first portion of this period, from B.C. 500 to 479, 
Herodotus (books v. to ix.) is our chief authority; but he may be 
supplemented to a considerable extent from Plutarch (" Vit. Themist. 
and Aristid.") and Nepos (" Vit. Miltiad., Themist., Aristid., and 
Pausan."). For the second portion of the period, from B.C. 479 to 431, 
the outline of Thucydides (book i. chaps. 24 to 146) is of primary im- 
portance, especially for the chronology; but the details must be filled 
in from Diodorus (book xi. and first half of book xii.), and, as before, 
from Plutarch and Nepos. (The latter has one " Life " only bearing 
on this period, that of Cimon; the former has two, those of Cimon and 
Pericles.) For most of the third portion of the period, the time of the 
Peloponnesian War — B.C. 431 to 404 — we have the invaluable work of 
Thucydides (books ii. to viii.) as our single and sufficient guide; but, 
where the work of Thucydides breaks oflf, we must supplement his con- 
tinuator, Xenophon (" Hellenica," books i. and ii.), by Diodorus (last 
half of book xii.). For the fourth portion of the period, from the close 
of the Peloponnesian War to the battle of Mantineia — B.C. 404 to 362 — 
Xenophon in his " Hellenica," his " Anabasis," and his " Agesilaus," 
is our main authority: he is to be compared with Diodorus (books xiii. 
to XV.), Nepos (" Vit. Lysand., Conon., Pelop., Epaminond., and 
Ages."), and Plutarch ("Vit. Pelop., Artaxerxis, and Ages."). For 
the remainder of the history — from B.C. 362 to 338 — in default of con- 
temporary writers, we are thrown primarily on the sixteenth book of 
Diodorus; but perhaps more real knowledge of the period is to be 
derived from the speeches of the orators, especially those of Demos- 
thenes and /Eschines. The lives of Phocion and Demosthenes in Plu- 
tarch, and those of Iphicrates, Chabrias, Timotheus, and Datames in 
Nepos, further illustrate the period, which also receives some light 
from Justin, Pausanias, and a few other authors. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 141 

sian War, Sparta was the state which exercised the greatest 
centraHzing force, and gave the most promise of uniting under 
its leadership the scattered members of the Hellenic body. 
Events prior to the Persian War had been gradually leading 
up to the recognition of a Spartan headship. It required, 
however, the actual occurrence of the war to bring rapidly to 
maturity what hitherto had only existed in embryo — to place 
at once vividly before the whole race the consciousness of 
Hellenic unity, to drive Sparta to the assumption of leader- 
ship, and to induce the other Greek states to acquiesce calmly 
in the new position occupied by one of their number. 

The beneficial influence of an extreme common danger was 
not limited to the time of its actual existence. The tendency 
towards consolidation, having once obtained a certain amount 
of strength, did not disappear with the cause which brought it 
into being. From the time of the Persian invasion, we notice 
a general inclination of the Greeks to gather themselves to- 
gether into confederations under leaders. The chief states, 
Sparta, Athens, Boeotia, Argos, are recognized as possible 
holders of such a hegemony ; and the history from this time 
thus possesses a character of unity for which we look in vain at 
an earlier period. 

The first expedition of Mardonius having been frustrated, 
in part by a storm, in part by the opposition of the Bryges, a 
tribe of Thracians, it was resolved, before a second expedition 
was sent out, to send heralds and summon the Greek States 
severally to surrender. The result of this policy was striking. 
The island states generally, and many of the continental ones, 
made their submission. Few, comparatively, rejected the 
overture. Athens and Sparta, however, marked their abhor- 
rence of the proposal made them in the strongest possible way. 
In spite of the universally-received law, that the persons of 
heralds were sacred, they put the envoys of Darius to death, 
and thus placed themselves beyond all possibility of further 
parley with the enemy. 

The victory of Marathon gave Greece a breathing-space be- 
fore the decisive trial of strength between herself and Persia, 
which was manifestly impending. No one conceived that the 
danger was past, or that the Great King would patiently accept 



I4S 



RAWLINSON 



his defeat, without seeking to avenge it. The ten years which 
intervened between Marathon and Thermopylae were years of 
preparation as much to Greece as to Persia. Athens espe- 
cially, under the wise guidance of Themistocles, made herself 
ready for the coming conflict by the application of her great 
pecuniary resources to the increase of her navy, and by the 
training of her people in nautical habits. The war between 
this state and ^gina, which continued till B.C. 481, was very 
advantageous to the Grecian cause, by stimulating these naval 
efforts, and enabling Themistocles to persuade his country- 
men to their good. 

The military preparations of Darius in the years B.C. 489 to 
487, and those of Xerxes in B.C. 484 to 481, must have been 
well known to the Greeks, who could not doubt the quarter in 
which it was intended to strike a blow. Accordingly, we find 
the year B.C. 481 given up to counter-preparations. A gen- 
eral congress held at the Isthmus — a new feature in Greek his- 
tory — arranged, or suppressed, the internal quarrels of the 
states attending it ; assigned the command of the confederate 
forces, both by land and sea, to Sparta ; and made an attempt 
to obtain assistance from distant, or reluctant, members of the 
Hellenic body — Argos, Crete, Corcyra, and Sicily. A resolu- 
tion was at the same time taken to meet the invader at the ex- 
treme northern boundary of Greece, where it was thought that 
the pass of Tempe offered a favorable position for resistance. 

The force sent to Thessaly, finding the pass of Tempe un- 
tenable, withdraws at once ; and the position of Thermopylae 
and Artemisium is chosen for the combined resistance to the 
foe by sea and land. Though that position is forced, Attica 
overrun, and Athens taken and burnt, in revenge for Sardis, 
yet the defeat of his vast fleet at Salamis (B.C. 480) alarms 
Xerxes, and causes him to retire with all his remaining vessels 
and the greater part of his troops. Mardonius stays behind 
with 350,000 picked men, and the fate of Greece has to be de- 
termined by a land battle. This is fought the next year, B.C. 
479, at Platasa, by the Spartan king, Pausanias, and the Athen- 
ian general, Aristides, who with 69,000 men completely defeat 
the Persian general, take his camp, and destroy his army. A 
battle at Mycale (in Asia Minor), on the same day, effects the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 143 

destruction of the remnant of the Persian fleet ; and thus the 
entire invading armament, both naval and mihtary, is swept 
away, the attempt at conquest having issued in utter failure. 

The discomfiture of the assailing force which had threatened 
the liberties of Greece, while it was far from bringing the war 
to an end, entirely changed its character. Greece now took 
the offensive. Not content with driving her foe beyond her 
borders, she aimed at pressing Persia back from the advanced 
position which she had occupied in this quarter, regarding it as 
menacing to her own security. At the same time, she pun- 
ished severely the Grecian States which had invited or encour- 
aged the invader. Moreover, she vindicated to herself, as the 
natural consequence of the victories of Salamis and Mycale, 
the complete command of the Levant, or Eastern Mediter- 
ranean, and the sovereignty over all the littoral islands, includ- 
ing Cyprus. 

The new position into which Greece had been brought by 
the course of events, a position requiring activity, enterprise, 
the constant employment of considerable forces at a distance 
from home, and the occupation of the ^Egean with a powerful 
navy, led naturally to the great change which now took place 
in Grecian arrangements — the withdrawal of Sparta from the 
conduct of the Persian War, and the substitution of Athens as 
leader. No doubt Sparta did not see at once all which this 
change involved. The misconduct of Pausanias, who entered 
into treasonable negotiations with Xerxes, and the want of 
elasticity in her system, which unfitted her for distant foreign 
wars, made Sparta glad to retire from an unpleasant duty, the 
burden of which she threw upon Athens, without suspecting 
the profit and advantage which that ambitious state would de- 
rive from undertaking it. She did not suppose that she was 
thereby yielding up her claim to the headship of all Greece at 
home, or erecting Athens into a rival. She imagined that she 
could shift on to a subordinate responsibilities which were too 
much for her, without changing the attitude of that subordi- 
nate towards herself. This was a fatal mistake, so far as her 
own interests were concerned, and had to be redeemed at a 
vast cost during a war which lasted, with short interruptions, 
for the space of more than fifty years. 



144 RAWLINSON 

On Athens the change made by the transference of the lead- 
ership had an effect which, if not really advantageous in all re- 
spects, seemed at any rate for a time to be extraordinarily 
beneficial. Her patriotic exertions during the war of invasion 
appeared to have received thereby their due reward. She had 
obtained a free vent for her superabundant activity, energy, 
and enterprise. She was to be at the head of a league of the 
naval powers of Greece, offensive and defensive, against Per- 
sia. The original idea of the league was that of a free con- 
federation. Delos was appointed as its centre. There the 
Congress was to sit, and there was to be the common treasury. 
But Athens soon converted her acknowledged headship 
{riyefjiovia) into a sovereignty (apxn)- First, the right of states 
to secede from the confederacy, which was left undecided by 
the terms of the confederation, was denied ; and, upon its as- 
sertion, was decided in the negative by the unanswerable argu- 
ment of force. Next, the treasury was transferred from Delos 
to Athens, and the meetings of the Congress were discontin- 
ued. Finally, the separate treasury of the league was merged 
in that of Athens; the money and ships of the allies were 
employed for her own aggrandizement in whatever way Athens 
pleased ; and the various members of the league, excepting a 
few of the more powerful, were treated as Athenian subjects, 
compelled to model their governments in accordance with 
Athenian views, and even forced to allow all important causes 
to be transferred by appeal from their own local courts to those 
of the Imperial City. These changes, while they immensely 
increased the wealth and the apparent importance and power 
of Athens, did nevertheless, by arousing a deep and general 
feeling of discontent among her subject-allies, introduce an 
element of internal weakness into her system, which, when the 
time of trial came, was sure to show itself and to issue in dis- 
aster, if not in ruin. 

Internal changes of considerable importance accompanied 
this exaltation of Athens to the headship of an Empire. The 
power of the Clisthenic stratcgi increased, while that of the old 
archons declined until it became a mere shadow. The de- 
mocracy advanced. By a law of Aristides, B.C. 478, the last 
vestige of a property qualification was swept away, and every 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



145 



Athenian citizen was made eligible to every office. The law- 
courts were remodelled and systematized by Pericles, who also 
introduced the plan of paying the poorer citizens for their at- 
tendance. The old council of the Areopagus was assailed, its 
political power destroyed, and its functions made simply judi- 
cial. At the same time, however, certain conservative altera- 
tions were introduced by way of balance. The establishment 
of the Nomophylaces and the Nomothetae, together with the 
institution of the Indictment for Illegality {<ypa(pT) •jrapavofxcov) 
had a decided tendency to check the over-rapid progress of 
change. The practice of re-electing year after year a favorite 
sfrategus gave to the republic something of the stability of 
monarchy, and rendered fluctuations in policy less frequent 
than they would otherwise have been, and less extreme. 
Meanwhile, the convenient institution of ostracism diminished 
the violence of party struggles, and preserved the state from 
all attempts upon its liberties. The sixty years which followed 
Salamis form, on the whole, the most brilliant period of Athe- 
nian history, and exhibit to us the exceptional spectacle of a 
full-blown democracy, which has nevertheless all the steadi- 
ness, the firmness, and the prudent self-control of a limited 
monarchy or other mixed government. 

Athens also during this period became the most splendid 
of Greek cities, and was the general resort of all who excelled 
in literature or in the arts. The Parthenon, the Theseium, the 
temple of Victory, the Propylaea were built, and adorned with 
the paintings of Polygnotus and the exquisite sculptures of 
Phidias and his school. Cimon and Pericles vied with each 
other in the beautifying of the city of their birth ; and the en- 
couragement which the latter especially gave to talent of every 
kind, collected to Athens a galaxy of intellectual lights such as 
is almost without parallel in the history of mankind. At the 
same time, works of utility were not neglected, but advanced 
at an equal pace with those whose character was ornamental. 
The defenses of Athens were rebuilt immediately after the de- 
parture of the Persians, and not long afterwards the fortifica- 
tions were extended to the sea on either side by the " Long 
Walls " to the two ports of Piraeus and Phalerum. The triple 
harbor of Piraeus was artificially enlarged and strengthened. 



146 



RAWLINSON 



New docks were made, and a town was laid out on a grand 
plan for the maritime population. A mag-nificent force of tri- 
remes was kept up, maintained always at the highest point of 
efficiency. Colonies were moreover sent out to distant shores, 
and new towns arose, at Amphipolis, Thurii, and elsewhere, 
which reproduced in remote and barbarous regions the splen- 
dor and taste of the mother city on a reduced scale. 

Although Aristides was the chief under whom Athens ob- 
tained her leadership, and Themistocles the statesman to 
whom she owed it that she was thought of for such a position, 
yet the guidance of the state on her new career was intrusted 
to neither the one nor the other, but to Cimon. Aristides ap- 
pears to have been regarded as deficient in military talent ; and 
the dishonest conduct of Themistocles had rendered him justly 
open to suspicion. It was thus to the son of the victor at 
Marathon that the further humiliation of Persia was now com- 
mitted. 

The revolt of the Spartan Helots simultaneously with the 
siege of Thasos, B.C. 464, was an event the importance of 
which can scarcely be over-estimated. It led to the first actual 
rupture of friendly relations between Athens and Sparta ; and 
it occupied the attention of Sparta so completely for ten years 
that she could do nothing during that time to check the rapid 
advance which Athens made, so soon as she found herself free 
to take whatever part she pleased in Grecian politics. It like- 
wise caused the banishment of Cimon (B.C. 461) and the ele- 
vation of Pericles to the chief direction of afifairs — a change of 
no small moment, being the substitution of a consummate 
statesmen as chief of the state for a mere moderately skilful 
general. 

The ambition of Pericles aimed at securing to Athens the 
first position in Greece both by land and sea. He understood 
that Sparta would not tolerate such pretensions, and was pre- 
pared to contest with that power the supremacy on shore. 
But he believed that ultimately, in such a country as Greece, 
the command of the sea would carry with it a predominant 
power over the land also. He did not design to withdraw 
Athens from her position of leader against Persia ; but, treating 
the Persian War as a secondary and subordinate affair, he 



ANCIENT HISTORY 147 

wished to direct the main energies of his country towards the 
acquisition of such authority and influence in central and 
northern Greece as would place her on a par with Sparta as a 
land power. At the same time, he sought to strengthen him- 
self by alliances with such states of the Peloponnese as were 
jealous of Sparta ; and he was willing, when danger threatened, 
to relinquish the contest with Persia altogether, and to devote 
all his efforts to the establishment of the supremacy of Athens 
over Greece. 

The culminating period of Athenian greatness was the in- 
terval between CEnophyta and Coroneia, B.C. 456 to 447. 
Pericles, who at the outset appeared likely to succeed in all 
that he had planned, learned gradually by the course of events 
that he had overrated his country's powers, and wisely acqui- 
esced in the inevitable. From about B.C. 454 his aim was to 
consolidate and conserve, not to enlarge, the dominion of 
Athens. But the policy of moderation came too late. Boeo- 
tia, Phocis, and Locris burned to be free, and determined to try 
the chance of arms, so soon as a convenient occasion ofifered. 
Coroneia came, and Athens was struck down upon her knees. 
Two years later, on the expiration of the five years' peace (B.C. 
445), Sparta arranged a combination which threatened her 
rival with actual destruction. Megara on the one side and 
Euboea on the other were stirred to revolt, while a Pelopon- 
nesian force under Pleistoanax and Cleanridas invaded Attica 
at Eleusis. But the crisis was met by Pericles with firmness 
and wisdom. The Spartan leaders were accessible to bribes, 
and the expenditure of a few talents relieved Athens from her 
greatest danger. Eubcea, the possession of which was of vital 
consequence to the unproductive Attica, received a severe pun- 
ishment for her disaffection at the hands of Pericles himself. 
Megara, and a few outlying remnants of the land empire en- 
joyed from B.C. 456 to 447, were made the price of peace. By 
the cession of what it would have been impossible to retain, 
Athens purchased for herself a long term of rest, during which 
she might hope to recruit her strength and prepare herself to 
make another struggle for the supremacy. 

The struggle which now commenced is known by the name 
of the " Peloponnesian War." It lasted twenty-seven years, 



148 RAWLINSON 

from B.C. 431 to 404, and extended itself over almost the whole 
of the Grecian world, involving almost every state from Selinus 
at the extreme west of Sicily to Cnidvis and Rhodes in the 
.i^gean. Though in the main a war for supremacy between 
the two great powers of Greece, Athens and Sparta, it was also 
to a certain extent " a struggle of principles," and likewise, 
though to a lesser extent, " a war of races." Speaking gen- 
erally, the Ionian Greeks were banded together on the one 
side, and made common cause with the Athenians ; while the 
Dorian Greeks, with a few remarkable exceptions, gave their 
aid to the Spartans. But political sympathy determined, to a 
greater degree than race, the side to which each state should 
attach itself. Athens and Sparta were respectively in the eyes 
of the Greeks the representatives of the two principles of de- 
mocracy and oligarchy ; and it was felt that, according as the 
one or the other preponderated, the cause of oligarchical or 
democratical government was in the ascendant. The prin- 
ciple of non-intervention was unknown. Both powers alike 
were propagandist ; and revolutionized, as occasion offered, 
the constitutions of their dependencies. Even without inter- 
vention, party spirit was constantly at work, and the triumph 
of a faction over its rival in this or that petty state might at any 
time disturb the balance of power between the two chief bel- 
ligerents. 

These two belligerents ofifered a remarkable contrast to each 
other in many respects. Athens was predominantly a mari- 
time, Sparta a land power. Athens had influence chiefly on 
the eastern side of Greece and in Asia ; Sparta, on the western 
side of Greece, and in Italy and Sicily. Again, the position of 
Sparta with respect to her allies was very different from that 
of Athens. 

Sparta was at the head of a purely voluntary confederacy, 
the members of which regarded their interests as bound 
up in hers, and accepted her, on account of her superior 
military strength, as their natural leader. Athens was mis- 
tress of an empire which she had acquired, to a considerable 
extent, by force ; and was disliked by most of her subject-al- 
lies, who accepted her leadership, not from choice, but from 
compulsion. Thus Sparta was able to present herself before 



ANCIENT HISTORY 149 

men's minds in the character of *' Hberator of Greece ;" though, 
had she obtained a complete ascendancy over the rest of 
Greece, her yoke would probably have been found at least as 
galling as the Athenian. 

Among the principal advantages which Athens possessed 
over Sparta at the commencement of the war was the better 
arrangement of her finance. Sparta can scarcely be said to 
have had a revenue at all. Her military expenses were met by 
extraordinary contributions, which she and her allies levied 
upon themselves, as occasion seemed to require. Athens, on 
the contrary, had an organized system, which secured her an 
annual revenue greatly exceeding her needs in time of peace, 
and sufficient to support the whole expense of a moderate war. 
When extraordinary efforts were required, she could fall back 
on her accumulations, which were large ; or she could augment 
her income by requiring from her citizens an increased rate of 
property-tax. 

The Peloponnesian War may be divided into three periods : 
1st. From the commencement until the conclusion of the 
Peace of Nicias — ten years — B.C. 431 to 421. 2d. From the 
Peace of Nicias to its formal rupture by Sparta — eight years, 
B.C. 421 to 413. 3d. From the rupture of the Peace of Nicias 
to the capture of Athens — rather more than nine years — B.C. 
413 to 404. 

First Period. — The struggle was conducted for two years 
and a half by Pericles ; then by Nicias, but under the check of 
a strong opposition led by Cleon. Athens was continually 
more and more successful up to B.C. 424, when the fortune of 
war changed. The rash expedition into Boeotia in that year 
lost Athens the flower of her troops at Delium ; while the 
genius of the young Spartan, Brasidas, first saved Megara, and 
then, transferring the war into Thrace, threatened to deprive 
the Athenians of the entire mass of their allies in this quarter. 
The effort made to recover Amphipolis (B.C. 422) having 
failed, and Athens fearing greatly the further spread of dis- 
affection among her subject-cities, peace was made on terms 
disadva;ntageous but not dishonorable to Athens — the general 
principle of the peace being the statu quo ante bellum, but cer- 
tain exceptions being made with regard to Plataea and the 



I50 RAWLINSON 

Thracian towns, which placed Athens in a worse position than 
that which she held when the war began. 

Second Period. — The continuance of hostilities during this 
period, while there was peace, and even for some time alliance, 
between the two chief belligerents, was attributable, at first, 
to the hatred which Corinth bore to Athens, and to the en- 
ergy which she showed in forming coalitions against her de- 
tested rival. Afterwards it was owing also in part to the am- 
bition and influence of Alcibiades, who desired a renewal of the 
war, hoping thereby to obtain a sphere suitable to his talents. 
Argos, during this period, rose for a time into consideration, 
her alliance being sought on all hands ; but the battle of Man- 
tinea, by destroying the flower of her troops, once more broke 
her power, and her final gravitation to the Athenian side was 
of no consequence. 

Far more important than his Peloponnesian schemes was 
the project, which Alcibiades now brought forward, of con- 
quering Sicily. The success of this attempt would have com- 
pletely destroyed the balance of power in Greece, and have 
made Athens irresistible. The project, though perhaps some- 
what over-bold, would probably have succeeded, had the task 
of carrying it through to the end been intrusted to the genius 
which conceived it. Unfortunately for Athens, she was forced 
to choose between endangering her liberties by maintaining 
Alcibiades in power and risking the failure of an expedition 
to which she was too far committed for her to be able to re- 
cede. 

The recall of Alcibiades was injurious to Athens in various 
ways. It deprived her of her best general, and of the only 
statesman she possessed who was competent to deal with all 
the peculiar difficulties of the expedition. It made Sparta 
fully acquainted with the Athenian schemes for the manage- 
ment of Sicilian affairs, and so enabled her to counteract them. 
Finally, it transferred to the enemy the most keen and subtle 
intellect of the time, an intellect almost certain to secure suc- 
cess to the side which it espoused. Still, if the choice lay (as 
probably it did) between accepting Alcibiades as tyrant and 
driving him into exile, we must hold Athens justified in the 
course which she took. There might easily be a rapid recov- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 151 

ery from the effects of a disastrous expedition. Who could 
predict the time at which the state would recover from the loss 
of those liberties on which her prosperity had recently de- 
pended? 

Third Period. — The maintenance of the " Peace of Nicias " 
had long been rather nominal than real. Athens and Sparta 
had indeed abstained hitherto from direct attacks upon each 
other's territories ; but they had been continually employed in 
plots against each other's interests, and they had met in con- 
flict both in the Peloponnese and in Sicily. Now at length, 
after eight years, the worn-out fiction of a pretended amity was 
discarded ; and the Spartans, by the advice of Alcibiades, not 
only once more invaded Attica, but made a permanent settle- 
ment at Deceleia within sight of Athens. The main theatre of 
the struggle continued, however, to be Sicily ; where the 
Athenians clung with desperation to a scheme which prudence 
required them to relinquish, and lavishly sent fleet after fleet 
and army after army to maintain a conflict which was hopeless. 
Still the expedition might have re-embarked, without suffering 
any irreparable disaster, had it not been for an improvement 
in ship-building, devised by the Corinthians and eagerly adopt- 
ed by the Syracusans, which deprived Athens of her command 
of the sea, and forced her armies to surrender at discretion. 
Thus the fatal blow, from which Athens never recovered, was 
struck by the hatred of Corinth, which, in the course of a few 
weeks, more than avenged the injuries of half a century. 

The immediate result of the disasters in Sicily was the trans- 
ference of the war to Asia Minor. Her great losses in ships 
and sailors had so crippled the naval power of Athens, that her 
command of the sea was gone ; the more so, as her adversaries 
were strengthened by the accession to their fleet of a powerful 
Sicilian contingent. The knowledge of this entire change in 
the relative position of the two belligerents at sea, encouraged 
the subject-allies generally to shake off the Athenian yoke. 
Sparta saw the importance of encouraging this defection ; and 
crossing the ^Egean Sea in force, made the theatre of war Asia 
Minor, the islands, and the Hellespont. Here, for the first 
time, she was able to make the Persian alliance, which she had 
so long sought, of use to her. Persian gold enabled her to 



152 



RAWLINSON 



maintain a fleet equal or superior to that of Athens, and ulti- 
mately gave her the victory in the long doubtful contest. 

What most surprises us, in the third and last period of the 
war, is the vigor of the Athenian defense ; the elasticity of 
spirit, the energy, and the fertility of resource which seemed 
for a time to have completely surmounted the Sicilian calamity, 
and made the final issue once more appear to be doubtful. 
This wonderful recovery of strength and power was, no doubt, 
in a great measure due to the genius of one man — Alcibiades. 
But something must be attributed to the temper and character 
of the people. Athens, like Rome, is the greatest and most 
admirable in misfortune ; it is then that her courage, her pa- 
tience, and her patriotism deserve and command our sympa- 
thies. 

The arrival of the younger Cyrus in Asia Minor was of great 
advantage to Sparta, and must be regarded as mainly effective 
in bringing the war rapidly to a successful issue. Hitherto 
the satraps had pursued the policy which the interests of Persia 
required, had trimmed the balance, and contrived that neither 
side should obtain a decided preponderance over the other. 
But Cyrus had personal views, which such a course would not 
have subserved. He required the assistance of Greek troops 
and ships in the great enterprise that he was meditating ; and, 
to obtain such aid, it was necessary for him to make a real 
friend of one belligerent or the other. He chose Sparta, as 
best suited to furnish him the aid he required ; and, having 
made his choice, he threw himself into the cause with all the 
energy of his nature. It was his prompt and lavish generosity 
which prevented the victory of Arginusas from being of any 
real service to Athens, and enabled Lysander to undo its ef- 
fects and regain the mastery of the sea, within the space of 
thirteen months, by the crowning victory of .^gos-potami. 
That victory may also have been in another way the result of 
Lysander's command of Persian gold ; for it is a reasonable 
suspicion that some of the Athenian commanders were bribed, 
and that the negligence which lost the battle had been paid for 
out of the stores of Cyrus. 

The internal history of Athens during the third period of the 
Peloponnesian War is full of interest. The disastrous termi- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 153 

nation of the Sicilian expedition threw discredit upon demo- 
cratical institutions ; and immediately after the news of it 
reached Athens, the constitution was modified in an aristo- 
cratic direction, B.C. 412. The change, however, then made 
was not regarded as sufficient; and in B.C. 411 a more com- 
plete revolution was effected. Cowed by a terrorism which 
the political clubs knew well how to exercise, the Athenian 
democracy submitted to see itself abolished in a perfectly legal 
manner. A nominated Council of 400 succeeded to the elect- 
ive ^ovXr] ; and a pretended committee of 5000 took the place 
of the time-honored iKKkiqaia. This government, which was 
practically that of three or four individuals, lasted for about 
four months, when it was overthrown by violence, and the de- 
mocracy was restored again under certain restrictions. 

The triumph of Sparta was the triumph throughout Greece 
of oligarchical principles. At Athens the democracy was 
abolished, and the entire control of the government placed in 
the hands of a Board of Thirty, a board which has acquired in 
history the ominous name of " The Thirty Tyrants." Boards 
of Ten {SeKapx^ciL), chosen by himself, were set up by Lysander 
as the supreme authority in Samos and in other cities, while 
Spartan " harmosts," with indefinite powers, were established 
everywhere. The Greeks found that, instead of gaining by 
the change of masters, they had lost ; they had exchanged the 
yoke of a power, which, if rapacious, was at any rate refined, 
civilized, and polished, for that of one which added to rapacity 
a coarse arrogance and a cruel harshness which were infinitely 
exasperating and offensive. Even in the matter of the tribute 
there was no relaxation. Sparta found that, to maintain an 
empire, she must have a revenue ; and the contributions of her 
subject-allies were assessed at the annual rate of 1000 talents 
(£243,000). 

The expedition of the Ten Thousand, B.C. 401 to 400, be- 
longs less to the history of Greece than to that of Persia ; but 
it had some important consequences on the after course of 
Greek policy. The weakness of Persia was laid bare ; it was 
seen that her capital might be reached, and that Greek troops 
might march in security from end to end of the Empire. Hith- 
erto even the attacks of the Greeks on Persian territory had 



154 



RAWLINSON 



been in a measure defensive, having for their object the secur- 
ity of European Hellas, or the liberation of the Greek cities in 
Asia. Henceforth ideas of actual conquest floated before the 
Grecian mind ; and the more restless spirits looked to this quar- 
ter as the best field for their ambition. On the side of the Per- 
sians, alarm at the possible results of Greek audacity began to 
be felt, and a new policy was developed in consequence. The 
Court of Susa henceforth took an active part in the Greek 
struggles, allying itself continually with one side or the other, 
and employing the treasures of the state in defraying the cost 
of Greek armaments, or in corrupting Greek statesmen. 
Finally, Persia came to be viewed as the ultimate arbiter of the 
Greek quarrels ; and rescripts of the Great King at once im- 
posed peace on the belligerents, and defined the terms on 
which it should be concluded. 

The immediate consequence of the Cyreian expedition was 
war between Sparta and Persia. Sparta was known to have 
lent her aid to Cyrus ; and Tissaphernes had orders, on his re- 
turn to the coast, to retaliate by severities on the Greek cities, 
which were now under the protection of the Spartans. The 
challenge thus thrown down was readily accepted ; and for six 
years — B.C. 399 to 394 — Sparta carried on war in Asia Minor, 
first under generals of no great talent, but, finally, under Age- 
silaiis, who succeeded in making the Great King tremble for 
his empire. The consequences would probably have been 
serious, if Persia had not succeeded in effecting a combination 
against the Spartans in Greece itself, which forced them to re- 
call Agesilaiis from Asia. 

Instigated by the Persians, and jealous of the power of 
Sparta, Argos, Thebes, Corinth, and Athens formed an alli- 
ance against her in the year B.C. 395. A war of a checkered 
character followed. Sparta lost the command of the sea by 
the great victory of Conon at Cnidus, but maintained her su- 
periority on land in the battles of Corinth, Coronsea, and Le- 
chseum. Still she found the strain upon her resources so 
great, and the difficulty of resisting the confederation, sup- 
ported as it was by the gold and the ships of Persia, so extreme, 
that after a few years she felt it necessary to procure peace at 
any cost. It was at her instance, and by her energetic exer- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 155 

tions, that Persia was induced to come forward in the new 
character of arbiter, and to require the acceptance by the 
Greeks generally of the terms contained in the " Peace of 
Antalcidas " — terms disgraceful to the Greeks, but advanta- 
geous to Sparta, as the clause establishing the independence of 
all the Greek states (7r6Xet9) injured Corinth and Thebes, while 
it left her own power untouched. 

The immediate consequences of the " Peace of Antalcidas " 
were the separation of Corinth from Argos, and the deposi- 
tion of Thebes from her hegemony over the Boeotian cities. 
The re-establishment of Platsea followed, a judicious measure 
on the part of Sparta, tending to produce estrangement be- 
tween Thebes and Athens. Sparta was now at the zenith of 
her power. Claiming the right of seeing to the execution of 
the treaty which she had negotiated, she extended her influ- 
ence on all sides, nowhere meeting with resistance. But the 
intoxication of success had its usual effect in developing sel- 
fishness and arrogance — fatal defects in a ruling state, always 
stirring up sentiments of hostility, which sooner or later pro- 
duce the downfall of the power that provokes them. The 
domineering insolence which dictated to Mantineia and Phlius, 
might indeed, if confined to those cities, or others like them, 
have had no ill results ; but when, in time of peace, the citadel 
of Thebes was occupied, and the act, if not commanded, was at 
least approved and adopted by Sparta, the bitter enmity of one 
of the most powerful states of Greece was aroused, and every 
other state was made to feel that, in its turn, it might by some 
similar deed be deprived of independence. But the aggressor 
was for the time triumphant ; and having no open enemy now 
within the limits of Greece Proper, sought one on the borders 
of Thrace and Macedon, where, under the headship of Olyn- 
thus, a powerful confederacy was growing up, consisting in 
part of Greek, in part of Macedonian, cities. A war of four 
years, B.C. 382 to 379, sufficed to crush this rising power, and 
thus to remove from Northern Greece the only rival which 
Macedon had seriously to fear — the only state which, by its 
situation, its material resources, and its numerical strength, 
might have offered a considerable obstacle to the advance of 
the Macedonian kings to empire. 



156 RAWLINSON 

Thus far success had attended every enterprise of Sparta, 
however cruel or wicked ; but at length the day of retribution 
came. Pelopidas and his friends effected a bloody revolution 
at Thebes, recovered the Cadmeia, expelling the Spartan gar- 
rison, and set about the restoration of the old Boeotian league. 
Athens, injured and insulted, declared war against her old 
rival, made alliance with Thebes, revived her old confederacy 
on fair and equitable terms, and recovered the empire of the 
seas by the victories of Naxos an-d Leucas. All the efforts of 
Sparta against her two antagonists failed, and after seven years 
of unsuccessful war she was reduced to make a second appeal 
to Persia, who once more dictated the terms on which peace 
was to be made. Athens, now grown jealous of Thebes, was 
content to sign, and her confederates followed her lead ; but 
Thebes by the mouth of Epaminondas declined, unless she 
were recognized as head of Boeotia. As Sparta positively re- 
fused to admit this claim, Thebes was publicly and formally 
excluded from the Treaty of Peace. 

Sparta now, having only Thebes to contend with, imagined 
that her triumph was secure, and sent her troops into Boeotia 
under Cleombrotus, hoping to crush and destroy Thebes. 
But the magnificent victory of Epaminondas at Leuctra — the 
fruit at once of extraordinary strategic skill at the time, and of 
an excellent training of his soldiers previously — dashed all 
these hopes to the ground. Sparta fell, suddenly and forever, 
from her high estate. Almost all Central Greece joined 
Thebes. Arcadia rose and began to organize itself as a federa- 
tion. The Lacedaemonian harmosts were expelled from all 
the cities, and the philo-Laconian party was everywhere put 
down. Epaminondas, moreover, as soon as the murder of 
Jason of Pherae left him free to act, redoubled his blows. En- 
tering the Peloponnese, he ravaged the whole Spartan terri- 
tory at will, and even threatened the city ; which Agesilaus with 
some difficulty preserved. But these temporary losses and dis- 
graces were as nothing compared with the permanent injuries 
which the prudent policy of the Theban leader inflicted on his 
foe, in the constitution of the Arcadian league and foundation 
of Megalopolis ; and, still more, in the re-establishment of an 
independent Messenia and the building of Messene. Hence- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 157 

forth Sparta was a second-rate rather than first-rate power. 
She ceased to exercise a hegemony, and was territorially not 
much larger than Arcadia or Argos. 

In her distress, Sparta makes appeal to Athens for aid ; and 
an alliance is formed between these two powers on terms of 
equality, which is joined after a time by Achsea, Elis, and even 
by most of Arcadia, where a jealousy of Theban power and 
interference is gradually developed. Thebes, partly by mis- 
management, partly by the mere circumstance of her being 
now the leading state, arouses hostility, and loses ground in 
the Peloponnese, which she endeavors to recover by obtaining 
and exhibiting a Persian rescript, declaring her the head of 
Greece, and requiring the other states to submit to her under 
pain of the Great King's displeasure. But missives of this 
character have now lost their force. The rescript is gener- 
ally rejected ; and the power of Thebes in the Peloponnese con- 
tinues to decline. 

Meanwhile, however, she was extending her influence in 
Northern Greece, and even beyond its borders. Her armies 
were sent into Thessaly, where they contended with Alexander 
of Pherse, the brother of Jason, and, after some reverses, suc- 
ceeded in reducing him to dependence. All Thessaly, to- 
gether with Magnesia and Achaea Phthiotis, were thus brought 
under her sway. In Macedonia, she arbitrated between the 
different claimants of the throne, and took hostages, among 
whom was the young prince Philip. Her fleet about the same 
time proceeded to the coast of Asia. 

But the honor of Thebes required that her influence should 
be re-established in the Peloponnese, and her friends there re- 
leased from a situation which had become one of danger. Ac- 
cordingly, in B.C. 362, Epaminondas once more took the field, 
and entering the Peloponnese, was within a little of surprising 
Sparta. Disappointed, however, of this prey by the activity of 
Agesilaiis, and of Mantineia by the sudden arrival of an Athe- 
nian contingent, he brought matters to a decision by a pitched 
battle ; in which, repeating the tactics of Leuctra, he once more 
completely defeated the Spartans and their allies, dying, how- 
ever, in the arms of victory, B.C. 362. His death almost com- 
pensated Sparta for her defeat, since he left no worthy sue- 



IS8 RAWLINSON 

cesser, and Thebes, which he and his friend Pelopidas had 
raised to greatness, sank back at once to a level with several 
otlier powers. 

The result of the struggle which Sparta had provoked by her 
seizure of the Theban citadel was the general exhaustion of 
Greece. No state was left with any decided predominance. 
The loss of all in men and money was great ; and the battle of 
Mantineia deprived Greece of her ablest general. If profit was 
derived by any state from the war, it was by Athens, who re- 
covered her maritime superiority (since the attempt of Epami- 
nondas to establish a rival navy proved a failure), reconsti- 
tuted her old confederacy, and even, by the occupation of 
Samos and the Chersonese, began to restore her empire. In 
Macedonia her influence to some extent balanced that of 
Thebes. 

The general exhaustion naturally led to a peace, which was 
made on the principle of leaving things as they were. The 
independence of Messene and the unification of Arcadia were 
expressly recognized, while the headship of Thebes and Athens 
over their respective confederacies was tacitly sanctioned. 
Sparta alone declined to sign the terms, since she would on no 
account forego her right to reconquer Messenia. She had no 
intention, however, of making any immediate appeal to arms, 
and allowed her king, Agesilaiis, to quit Sparta and take ser- 
vice under the native monarch of Egypt. 

The peace of B.C. 362 was not disturbed on the continent of 
Greece till after the lapse of six years. Meanwhile, however, 
hostilities continued at sea between Alexander of Pher^ and 
Athens, and, in the continental districts beyond the limits of 
Greece Proper, between Athens on the one hand, and Am- 
phipoHs, Pediccas of Macedon, and the Thracian princes, Cotys 
and his son Cersobleptes, on the other. Athens was intent on 
recovering her old dominion in these parts, while the Mace- 
donian and Thracian kings were naturally jealous of her grow- 
ing power. Nothing, however, as yet showed that any im- 
portant consequences would arise out of these petty struggles. 
Macedonia was still one of the weakest of the states which bor- 
dered on Greece ; and even when, on the death of Perdiccas, 
B.C. 359, his brother, Philip, who had escaped from Thebes, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 159 

mounted the throne, it was impossible for the most sagacious 
intellect to foresee danger to Greece from this quarter. 

The year B.C. 358 was the culminating point of the second 
period of Athenian prosperity. Athens had once more made 
herself mistress of the Chersonese ; she had recovered Euboea, 
which had recently attached itself to Thebes ; and she had ob- 
tained from Philip the acknowledgment of her right to Am- 
phipolis, when the revolt of a considerable number of her more 
distant allies engaged her in the " Social War," the results of 
which injured her greatly. The war cost her the services of 
her three best generals, Chabrias, Timotheus, and Iphicrates ; 
exhausted her treasury, and permanently diminished her re- 
sources. It likewise greatly tarnished her half-recovered 
reputation. 

The period of the " Social War " was also disastrous for 
Athens in another respect. So completely did the struggle 
with her allies occupy her attention, so incapable was she at 
this period of carrying on more than one war at a time, that 
she allowed Philip to absorb, one after another, Amphipolis, 
Pydna, Potid^ea, and Methone, and thus to sweep her from the 
Thermaic Gulf, almost without offering resistance. At first, 
indeed, she was cajoled by the crafty monarch ; but, even when 
the mask was thrown off, she made no adequate effort, but 
patiently allowed the establishment of Macedonian ascendency 
over the entire region extending from the Peneus to the Nes- 
tus. 

Before the " Social War " had come to an end, another ex- 
hausting struggle — fatal to Greece in its consequences — was 
begun in the central region of Hellas, through the vindictive- 
ness of Thebes. Down to the battle of Leuctra, Phocis had 
fought on the Spartan side, and had thus provoked the enmity 
of Thebes, who now resolved on her destruction. The Am- 
phictyonic assembly suffered itself to be m^ade the tool of the 
oppressors ; and by condemning Phocis to a fine which she 
could not possibly pay, compelled her to fight for her exist- 
ence. A war followed, in which Phocis, by the seizure and ex- 
penditure of the Delphic treasures, and the assistance, in some 
important conjuncture, of Achsea, Athens, and Sparta, main- 
tained herself for eleven years against Thebes and her allies. 



i6o RAWLINSON 

At last Thebes, blinded by her passionate hatred, called in 
Philip to her assistance, and thus purchased the destruction of 
her enemy at a cost which involved her own ruin and that of 
Greece generally. 

The ruin of Greece was now rapidly consummated. Within 
six years of the submission and punishment of Phocis, Philip 
openly declared war against Athens, the only power in Greece 
capable of ofifering him any important opposition. His efforts 
at first were directed towards obtaining the command of the 
Bosphorus and Hellespont ; but the second " Sacred War " 
gave him a pretext for marching his forces through Ther- 
moplyse into Central Greece ; and though Thebes and Athens 
joined to oppose him, the signal victory of Chseroneia (B.C. 
338) laid Greece prostrate at his feet. All the states, excepting 
Sparta, at once acknowledged his supremacy ; and, to mark 
distinctly the extinction of independent Hellas, and its absorp- 
tion into the Macedonian monarchy, Philip was, in B.C. 337, 
formally appointed generalissimo of united Greece against the 
Persians. His assassination in the next year excited hopes, 
but produced no real change. The aspirations of the patriotic 
party in Greece after freedom were quenched in the blood 
which deluged revolted Thebes, B.C. 335 ; and assembled 
Greece at Corinth once more admitted the headship of Mace- 
don, and conferred on the youthful Alexander the dignity 
previously granted to his father. 



BOOK IV 
HISTORY OF MACEDONIA 



BOOK IV. 

HISTORY OF THE MACEDONIAN MONARCHY. 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 

Macedonia Proper was the country lying immediately to the 
north of Thessaly, between Mount Scardus on the one hand 
and the maritime plain of the Pierians and Bottiseans (Thra- 
cians) on the other. It was bounded towards the north by Pse- 
onia, or the country of the Pseonians, from which it was sep- 
arated by an irregular line, running probably a little north of 
the 41st parallel. Its greatest length from north to south was 
about ninety miles, while its width from east to west may have 
averaged seventy miles. Its area was probably not much short 
of 6000 square miles, or about half that of Belgium. 

The character of the tract comprised within these limits was 
multiform, but for the most part fertile. High mountain- 
chains, capped with snow during the greater part of the year, 
and very varied in the directions that they take, divide the 
territory into a number of distinct basins. Some of these have 
a lake in the centre, into which all the superfluous moisture 
drains ; others are watered by rivers, which, with one excep- 
tion, flow eastward to the ^gean. In both cases the basins 
are of large extent, offering to the eye the appearance of a suc- 
cession of plains. The more elevated regions are for the most 
part richly wooded, and abound with sparkling rivulets, deep 
gorges, and frequent waterfalls ; but in places this character 
gives way to one of dulness and monotony, the traveller pass- 
ing for miles over a succession of bleak downs and bare hill 
sides, stony and shrubless. 

The principal Rivers of the region were the Lydias, or Lu- 
dias, now the Karasmak, and the Haliacmon, now the Vistritza. 

163 



l64 RAVVLINSON 

Besides these, there was a third stream of some importance, 
the Erigon, a tributary of the Axiiis. The chief Lakes were 
those of Castoria, on a tributary of the HaHacmon, of Begor- 
ritis (Ostrovo ?) in the country of the Eordseans, and the Lyd- 
ias Pahis, near Pella. 

Macedonia was divided into " Upper " and " Lower." Up- 
per Macedonia comprised the whole of the broad mountainous 
tract which lay between Scardus and Bermius, while Lower 
Macedonia was the comparatively narrow strip along the east- 
ern flank and at the foot of Bermius, between that range and 
the tracts known as Pieria and Bottigea. Upper Macedonia 
was divided into a number of districts, which for the most 
part took their names from the tribes inhabiting them. The 
principal were, to the north, Pelagonia and Lyncestis, on the 
river Erigon ; to the west, Orestis and Elymeia, on the upper 
Haliacmon ; and in the centre, Eordsea, about Lake Begorritis. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
FIRST PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Monarchy to the Death of 
Alexander the Great, about B.C. 700 to B.C. 323.* 

According to the tradition generally accepted by the Greeks, 
the Macedonian kingdom, which under Philip and Alexander 
attained to such extraordinary greatness, was founded by Hel- 
lenic emigrants from Argos. The Macedonians themselves 

* Sotirccs. For the first two centuries Macedonian history is almost 
a blank, nothing but a few names and some mythic tales being preserved 
to us in Herodotus. That writer is the best authority for the reigns 
of Amyntas I. and his son Alexander; but he must be supplemented 
from Thucydides (ii. 99) and Justin. Thucydides is the chief authority 
for the reign of Perdiccas. For the period from Archelaiis to Alexander 
we depend mainly on Justin and Diodorus. Philip's history, however, 
may be copiously illustrated from the Attic orators, especially yEschines 
and Demosthenes; but these partisan writers must not be trusted im- 
plicitly. On the history of Alexander the most trustworthy of the 
ancient authorities is Arrian (" Expeditio Alexandri "), who followed 
contemporary writers, especially Aristobulus and Ptolemy Lagi. Some 
interesting particulars are also furnished by Plutarch (" Vit. Alex."), 



ANCIENT HISTORY 165 

were not Hellenes ; they belonged to the barbaric races, not 
greatly differing from the Greeks in ethnic type, but far behind 
them in civilization, which bordered Hellas upon the north. 
They were a distinct race, not Pseonian, not Illyrian, not Thra- 
cian ; but, of the three, their connection was closest with the 
Illyrians. The Argive colony, received hospitably, gradually 
acquired power in the region about Mount Bermius ; and Per- 
diccas, one of the original emigrants, was (according to Herod- 
otus) acknowledged as king. (Other writers mentioned three 
kings anterior to Perdiccas, whose joint reigns covered the 
space of about a century.) The period which follows is one 
of great obscurity, little being known of it but the names of 
the kings. 

With Amyntas I., who was contemporary with Darius Hys- 
taspis, light dawns upon Macedonian history. We find that 
by this time the Macedonian monarchs of this line had made 
themselves masters of Pieria and Bottiaea, had crossed the 
Axius and conquered Mygdonia and Anthemus, had dislodged 
the original Eordi from Eordia and themselves occupied it, 
and had dealt similarly with the Almopes in Almopia, on the 
Rhaedias. But the advance of the Persians into Europe gave 
a sudden check to this period of prosperity. After a submis- 
sion which was more nominal than real, in B.C. 507, the Mace- 
donians, in B.C. 492, became Persian subjects, retaining, how- 
ever, their own kings, who accepted the position of tributaries. 
Amyntas I., who appears to have died about B.C. 498, was 
succeeded by his son, Alexander L, king at the time of the 
great invasion of Xerxes, who played no unimportant part in 
the expedition, B.C. 480 to 470. 

The repulse of the Persians set Macedonia free ; and the 
career of conquest appears to have been at once resumed. 
Crestonaea and Bisaltia were reduced, and the Macedonian 
dominion pushed eastward almost to the Strymon. The au- 

Nearchus (" Periplus "), and Diodorus (book xvii.). The biography 
of Q. Curtius is a rhetorical exercitation, on which it is impossible to 
place any dependence. (A good edition of the " Periplus of Nearchus," 
the only writing of a companion of Alexander that has come down to 
us, is contained in C. Miiller's " Geographi Grasci Minores." Paris, 
1855; 2 vols., tall 8vo.) 



i66 RAWLINSON 

thority of the monarchs of Pella was likewise extended over 
most of the inland Macedonian tribes, as the Lyncestae, the 
Eleimiots, and others, who however retained their own kings. 

But Macedonia was about this time herself exposed to 
attacks from two unquiet neighbors. The maritime con- 
federacy of Athens, which gave her a paramount authority 
over the Greek cities in Chalcidice and even over Me- 
thone in Pieria, brought the Athenians into the near neigh- 
borhood of Macedon, and necessitated relations between the 
two powers, which were at first friendly, but which grew to be 
hostile when Athens by her colony at Amphipolis put a check 
to the further progress of Macedon in that direction ; and were 
still more embittered by the encouragement which Athens gave 
to Macedonian chiefs who rebelled against their sovereign. 
About the same time, a powerful Thracian kingdom was formed 
under Sitalces, B.C. 440 to 420, which threatened destruction 
to the far smaller Macedonian state with which it was conter- 
minous. Macedonia, however, under the adroit Perdiccas, es- 
caped both dangers ; and, on the whole, increased in pros- 
perity. 

The reign of Archelaiis, the bastard son of Perdiccas II., 
though short, was very important for Macedon, since this 
prince laid the foundation of her military greatness by the at- 
tention which he paid to the army, while at the same time he 
strengthened and improved the country by the construction 
of highways and of forts. He was also the first of the Mace- 
donian princes who endeavored to encourage among his people 
a taste for Greek literature. Euripides the tragedian was wel- 
comed to his court, as also was Plato the philosopher, and per- 
haps Hellanicus the historian. He engaged in wars with some 
of the Macedonian princes, as particularly with Arrhibgeus ; 
but he was relieved from all hostile collision with Athens by 
the Sicilian disaster. The character of Archelaiis was sanguin- 
ary and treacherous ; in his habits he was licentious. After 
reigning fourteen years, he was assassinated by the victims 
of his lust, B.C. 399. 

The murder of Archelaus introduced a period of disturbance, 
both internal and external, which lasted till the accession of 
Philip, B.C. 359. During this interval the Macedonian court 



ANCIENT HISTORY 167 

was a constant scene of plots and assassinations. The direct 
line of succession having failed, numerous pretenders to the 
crown sprang up, who at different times found supporters in 
the Illyrians, the Lacedaemonians, the Thebans, and the Athe- 
nians. Civil wars were almost perpetual. Kings were driven 
from their thrones and recovered them. There were at least 
two regencies. So violent were the commotions that it seemed 
doubtful whether the kingdom could long continue to maintain 
its existence; and, if the Olynthian league had been allowed 
to constitute itself without interference, it is not unlikely that 
Macedon would have been absorbed, either by that confeder- 
acy or by the Illyrians. 

The reign of Philip is the turning-point in Macedonian his- 
tory. Hitherto, if we except Archelaiis, Macedonia had not 
possessed a single king whose abilities exceeded the common 
average, or whose aims had about them any thing of grandeur. 
Notwithstanding their asserted and even admitted Hellenism, 
the " barbarian " character of their training and associations 
had its effect on the whole line of sovereigns ; and their 
highest qualities were the rude valor and the sagacity border- 
ing upon cunning which are seldom wanting in savages. But 
Philip was a monarch of a different stamp. In natural ability 
he was at least the equal of any of his Greek contemporaries ; 
while the circumstances under which he grew to manhood 
were peculiarly favorable to the development of his talents. 
At the impressible age of fifteen, he was sent as a hostage to 
Thebes, where he resided for the greater part of three years 
(B.C. 368 to 365), while that state was at the height of its pros- 
perity under Pelopidas and Epaminondas. He was thus 
brought into contact with those great men, was led to study 
their system, and emulate their actions. He learnt the great 
importance of military training, and the value of inventiveness 
to those who wish to succeed in war ; he also acquired a facility 
of expressing himself in Greek, which was uncommon in a 
Macedonian, 

The situation of Philip at his accession was one of extreme 
embarrassment and difficulty. Besides Amyntas, his nephew, 
for whom he at first professed to be regent, there were at least 
five pretenders to the throne, two of whom, Pausanias and 



i68 RAWLINSON 

Argseus, were supported by the arms of foreigners. The Illyr- 
ians, moreover, had recently gained a great victory over Per- 
diccas, and, flushed v^ith success, had advanced into Macedonia 
and occupied most of the western provinces. Pseonia on the 
north, and Thrace upon the east, were unquiet neighbors, 
whose hostihty might be counted on whenever other perils 
threatened. Within two years, however, Philip had repressed 
or overthrown all these enemies, and found himself free to 
commence those wars of aggression by which he converted the 
monarchy of Macedon into an empire. 

Hitherto it had been the policy of Philip to profess himself 
a friend of the Athenians. Now, however, that his hands were 
free, it was his first object to disembarrass himself of these 
near neighbors, who blocked up his coast-line, watched his 
movements, and might seriously interfere with the execution 
of his projects. Accordingly, towards the close of B.C. 358, 
when Athens was already engaged in the " Social War," he 
suddenly laid siege to Amphipolis. Having taken the town, 
while he amused Athens with promises, he proceeded to attack 
and capture Pydna and Potidaea, actual Athenian possessions, 
making over the latter to Olynthus, to foment jealousy between 
her and Athens. He then conquered the entire coast district 
between the Strymon and the Nestus, thus becoming master 
of the important Thracian gold-mines, from which he shortly 
derived an annual revenue of a thousand talents ! 

The year after these conquests we find Philip in Thessaly, 
where he interferes to protect the Aleuadae of Larissa against 
the tyrants of Pherse. The tyrants call in the aid of the Pho- 
cians, then at the zenith of their power, and Philip suffers 
certain reverses ; but a few years later he is completely vic- 
torious, defeats and kills Onomarchus, and brings under his 
dominion the whole of Thessaly, together with Magnesia and 
Achaea Phthiotis. At the same time, he conquers Methone, 
the last Athenian possession on the coast of Macedon, attacks 
Maroneia, and threatens the Chersonese. Athens, the sole 
power which could effectually have checked these successes, 
made only slight and feeble efforts to prevent them. Already 
Philip had found the advantage of having friends among the 
Attic orators ; and their labors, backed by the selfish indolence 



ANCIENT HISTORY 169 

which now characterized the Athenians, producea an inaction, 
which had the most fatal consequences. 

The victory of Philip over Onomarchus roused Athens to 
exertion. Advancing to Thermopylae, Philip found the pass 
already occupied by an Athenian army, and did not venture 
to attack it. Greece was saved for the time ; but six years 
later the folly of the Thebans, and the fears of the Athenians, 
who were driven to despair by the ill success of the Olynthian 
and Euboic wars, admitted the Macedonian conqueror within 
the barrier. Accepted as head of the league against the impi- 
ous Phocians, Philip in a few weeks brought the " Sacred 
War " to an end, obtaining as his reward the seat in the Am- 
phictyonic Council of which the Phocians were deprived, and 
thus acquiring a sort of right to intermeddle as much as he 
liked in the affairs of Central and even Southern Hellas. 

The main causes of Philip's wonderful success were twofold : 
— Bettering the lessons taught him by his model in the art 
of war, Epaminondas, he had armed, equipped, and trained 
the Macedonian forces till they were decidedly superior to the 
troops of any state in Greece. The Macedonian phalanx, in- 
vincible until it came to be opposed to the Romans, was his 
conception and his work. Nor was he content with excellence 
in one arm of the service. On every branch he bestowed equal 
care and thought. Each was brought into a state nearly ap- 
proaching perfection. His cavalry, heavy and light, his pel- 
tasts, archers, slingers, darters, were all the best of their kind ; 
his artillery was numerous and effective ; his commissariat 
service was well arranged. At the same time, he was a master 
of finesse. Taking advantage of the divided condition of 
Greece, and of the general prevalence of corruption among 
the citizens of almost every community, he played off state 
against state and politician against politician. Masking his 
purposes up to the last moment, promising, cajoling, bribing, 
intimidating, protesting, he advanced his interests even more 
by diplomacy than by force, having an infinite fund of artifice 
from which to draw, and scarcely ever recurring to means 
which he had used previously. 

Philip had made peace with Athens in order to lay hold on 
Thermopylae — a hold which he never afterwards relaxed. But 



I70 RAWLINSON 

it was far from his intention to maintain the peace an hour 
longer than suited his purpose. Having once more chastised 
the Illyrian and Pseonian tribes, he proceeded to invade East- 
ern Thrace, and to threaten the Athenian possessions in that 
quarter. At the same time, he aimed at getting into his hands 
the command of the Bosphorus, which would have enabled him 
to starve Greece into submission by stopping the importation 
of corn. Here, however, Persia (which had at last come to feel 
alarm at his progress) combined with Athens to resist him. 
Perinthus and Byzantium were saved, and the ambition of 
Philip was for the time thwarted. 

But the indefatigable warrior, balked of his prey, and obliged 
to wait till Grecian affairs should take a turn more favorable 
to him, marched suddenly northward and engaged in a cam- 
paign on the Lower Danube against a Scythian prince who 
held the tract now known as Bulgaria. Victorious here, he 
recrossed the Balkan with a large body of captives, when he 
was set upon by the Triballi (Thracians), defeated, and wound- 
ed in the thigh, B.C. 339. The wound necessitated a short 
period of inaction ; but while the arch-plotter rested, his agents 
were busily at work, and the year of the Triballian defeat saw 
the fatal step taken, which was once more to bring a Mace- 
donian army into the heart of Greece, and to destroy the last 
remaining chance of the cause of Hellenic freedom. 

Appointed by the Amphictyons as their leader in a new 
" Sacred War," Philip once more passed Thermopylae and 
entered Phocis. But he soon showed that he came on no 
trivial or temporary errand. The occupation of Nicasa, Cytini- 
um, and more especially of Elateia, betrayed his intention of 
henceforth holding possession of Central Greece, and roused 
the two principal powers of the region to a last desperate ef- 
fort. Thebes and Athens met him at Chaeroneia in full force, 
with contingents from Corinth, Phocis, and Achgea. But the 
Macedonian phalanx was irresistible ; and the complete defeat 
of the allies laid Greece at Philip's feet. The Congress of Cor- 
inth (B.C. 337), attended by all the states except Sparta, which 
proudly stood aloof, accepted the headship of Macedon; and 
the cities generally undertook to supply contingents to the 
force which he designed to lead against Persia. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



171 



This design, however, was not executed. Great prepara- 
tions were made in the course of B.C. 337 ; and early in B.C. 
336 the vanguard of the Macedonian army was sent across 
uito Asia. But, a few months later, the sword of Pausanias 
terminated the career of the Macedonian monarch, who fell 
a victim, in part to his unwillingness, or his inabiUty to execute 
justice upon powerful offenders, in part to the quarrels and 
dissensions in his own family. Olympias certainly, Alexander 
probably, connived at the assassination of Philip, whose re- 
moval was necessary to their own safety. He died at the age 
of forty-seven, after a reign of twenty-three years. 

It is difhcult to say what exactly was the government of 
Macedonia under this prince. Practically, the monarch must 
have been nearly absolute ; but it would appear that, theoret- 
ically, he was bound to govern according to certain long- 
established laws and customs ; and it may be questioned 
whether he would have dared at any time to transgress, fla- 
grantly and openly, any such law or usage. The Macedonian 
nobles were turbulent and free of speech. If accused of con- 
spiracy or other crime, they were entitled to be tried before 
the public assembly. Their power must certainly have been 
to some extent a check upon the monarch. And after the for- 
mation of a great standing army, it became necessary for the 
monarch to consult the feelings and conform his acts to the 
wishes of the soldiers. But there seems to have been no such 
regular machinery for checking and controlling the royal au- 
thority as is implied in constitutional government. 

The reign of Alexander the Great has in the history of the 
world much the same importance which that of his father has 
in the history of Macedonia and of Greece. Alexander revo- 
lutionized the East, or, at any rate, so much of it as was con- 
nected with the West by intercourse or reciprocal influence. 
The results of a conquest effected in ten years continued for 
as many centuries, and remain in some respects to the present 
day. The Hellenization of Western Asia and North-eastern 
Africa, which dates from Alexander's successes, is one of the 
most remarkable facts in the history of the human race, and 
one of those most pregnant with important consequences. It 
is as absurd to deny to the author of such a revolution the 



172 



RAWLINSON 



possession of extraordinary genius as to suppose that the IHad 
could have been written by a man of no particular ability. 

The situation of Alexander, on his accession, was extremely 
critical ; and it depended wholly on his own energy and force 
of character whether he would retain his father's power or lose 
it. His position was far from assured at home, where he had 
many rivals ; and among the conquered nations there was a 
general inclination to test the qualities of the new and young 
prince by the assertion of independence. But Alexander was 
equal to the occasion. Seizing the throne without a moment's 
hesitation, he executed or drove out his rivals. Forestalling 
any open hostility on the part of the Greeks, he marched hast- 
ily, at the head of a large army, through Thessaly, Phocis, and 
Boeotia, to Corinth, and there required, and obtained, from the 
deputies whom he had convened to meet him, the same " hege- 
mony," or leadership, which had been granted to his father. 
Sparta alone, as she had done before, stood aloof. From Cor- 
inth, Alexander retraced his steps to Macedon, and thence pro- 
ceeded to chastise his enemies in the North and West, invading 
Thrace, defeating the Triballi and the Getse, and even crossing 
the Danube; after which he turned southward, and attacked 
and defeated the Illyrians under Clitus and Glaucias. 

Meanwhile, in Greece, a false report of Alexander's death 
induced Thebes to raise the standard of revolt. A general in- 
surrection might have followed but for the promptness and 
celerity of the young monarch. Marching straight from Illyria 
southward, he appeared suddenly in Boeotia, stormed and took 
Thebes, and, after a wholesale massacre, punished the survivors 
by completely destroying their city and selling them all as 
slaves. This signal vengeance had the effect intended. All 
Greece was terror-struck ; and Alexander could feel that he 
might commence his Asiatic enterprise in tolerable security. 
Greece was now not likely to rebel, unless he suffered some 
considerable reverse. 

In the spring of B.C. 334 Alexander passed the Hellespont 
with an army numbering about 35,000 men. The usual re- 
missness of the Persians allowed him to cross without opposi- 
tion. A plan of operations, suggested by Memnon the Rhod- 
ian, which consisted in avoiding an engagement in Asia Minor, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 173 

and carrying the war into Macedonia by means of the over- 
whelming Persian fleet, was rejected, and battle was given to 
Alexander, on the Granicus, by a force only a little superior 
to his own. The victory of the invader placed Asia Minor 
at his mercy, and Alexander with his usual celerity proceeded 
to overrun it. Still, he seems to have been unwilling to remove 
his army very far from the ^gean coast, so long as Memnon 
was alive. But the death of that able commander, in the spring 
of B.C. 333, left him free to act; and he at once took the road 
which led to the heart of the Persian empire. 

The conflict at Issus between Alexander and Darius himself 
was brought on under circumstances peculiarly favorable to 
the Macedonian monarch. Darius had intended to fight in the 
plain of Antioch, where his vast army would have had room 
to act. But, as Alexander did not come to meet him, he grew 
impatient, and advanced into the defiles which lie between 
Syria and Cilicia. The armies met, almost without warning, 
in a position where numbers gave no advantage. Under such 
circumstances the defeat of the Persians was a matter of course. 
Alexander deserves less credit for the victory of Issus than for 
the use he made of it. It was a wise and farseeing policy which 
disdained the simple plan of pressing forward on a defeated foe, 
and preferred to let him escape and reorganize his forces, while 
the victory was utilized in another way. Once possessed of the 
command of the sea, Alexander would be completely secure at 
home. He therefore proceeded from Issus against Tyre, Gaza, 
and Egypt. Twenty months suf^ced for the reduction of these 
places. Having possessed himself of all the maritime provinces 
of Persia, Alexander, in B.C. 331, proceeded to seek his enemy 
in the heart of his empire. 

In the final conflict, near Arbela, the relative strength of the 
two contending parties was fairly tried. Darius had collected 
the full force of his empire, had selected and prepared his 
ground, and had even obtained the aid of allies. His defeat 
was owing, in part, to the intrinsic superiority of the European 
over the Asiatic soldier ; in part, and in great part, to the con- 
summate ability of the Macedonian commander. The conflict 
was absolutely decisive, for it was impossible that any battle 
should be fought under conditions more favorable to Persia. 



174 RAWLINSON 

Accordingly, the three capitals, Babylon, Susa, and Persep- 
olis, surrendered, almost without resistance ; and the Persian 
monarch became a fugitive, and was ere long murdered by his 
servants. 

The most remarkable part of Alexander's career now com- 
mences. An ordinary conqueror would have been satisfied 
with the submission of the great capitals, and would have 
awaited, in the luxurious abodes which they offered, the adhe- 
sion of the more distant provinces. But for Alexander rest 
possessed no attractions. So long as there were lands or men 
to conquer, it was his delight to subjugate them. The pursuit 
of Darius and then of Bessus, drew him on to the north-eastern 
corner of the Persian Empire, whence the way was open into 
a new world, generally believed to be one of immense wealth. 
From Bactria and Sogdiana, Alexander proceeded through 
Afghanistan to India, which he entered on the side whence 
alone India is accessible by land, viz., the north-west. At first 
he warred with the princes who held their governments as 
dependencies of Persia ; but, when these had submitted, he 
desired still to press eastward, and complete the subjugation 
of the continent, which was believed to terminate at no great 
distance. The refusal of his soldiers to proceed stopped him 
at the Sutlej, and forced him to relinquish his designs, and 
to bend his steps homeward. 

It was characteristic of Alexander, that, even when compelled 
to desist from a forward movement, he did not retrace his steps, 
but returned to the Persian capital by an entirely new route. 
Following the course of the Indus in ships built for the purpose, 
while his army marched along the banks, he conquered the 
valley as he descended, and, having reached the ocean, pro- 
ceeded with the bulk of his troops westward through Gedrosia 
(Beloochistan) and Carmania into Persia. Meanwhile his ad- 
miral, Nearchus, sailed from the Indus to the Euphrates, thus 
reopening a line of communication which had probably been 
little used since the time of Darius Hystaspis. Alexander, in 
his march, experienced terrible difificulties ; and the losses in- 
curred in the Gedrosian desert exceeded those of all the rest 
of the expedition. Still he brought back to Persepolis the 
greater portion of his army, and found himself in a position, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 175 

not only to maintain his conquests, but to undertake fresh ones, 
for the purpose of rounding off and completing his empire. 

It was the intention of Alexander, after taking the measures 
which he thought advisable for the consolidation of his empire, 
and the improvement of his intended capital, Babylon, to at- 
tempt the conquest of the peninsula of Arabia — a vast tract 
inconveniently interposed between his western and his eastern 
provinces. A fleet, under Nearchus, was to have proceeded 
along the coast, whilst Alexander, with an immense host, trav- 
ersed the interior. But these plans were brought to an end 
by the sudden death of their projector at Babylon, in the thir- 
teenth year of his reign and the thirty-third of his age, June, 
B.C. ^22,. This premature demise makes it impossible to de- 
termine whether, or no, the political wisdom of Alexander 
was on a par with his strategic ability — whether, or no, he 
would have succeeded in consolidating and uniting his heter- 
ogeneous conquests, and have proved the Darius as well as 
the Cyrus of his empire. Cut ofT unexpectedly in the vigor 
of early manhood, he left no inheritor, either of his power or 
of his projects. The empire which he had constructed broke 
into fragments soon after his death ; and his plans, whatever 
they were, perished with him. 

The policy of Alexander, so far as appears, aimed at com- 
plete fusion and amalgamation of his own Grseco-Macedonian 
subjects with the dominant race of the subjugated countries, 
the Medo-Persians. He felt the difficulty of holding such ex- 
tensive conquests by garrisons of Europeans, and therefore de- 
termined to associate in the task of ruling and governing the 
Asiatic race which had shown itself most capable of those high 
functions. Ultimately, he would have fused the two peoples 
into one by translations of populations and intermarriages. 
Meanwhile, he united the two in the military and civil services, 
incorporating 20,000 Persians into his phalanx, appointing 
many Persians to satrapies, and composing his court pretty 
equally of Persian and Macedonian noblemen. His scheme 
had the merits of originality and intrinsic fairness. Its execu- 
tion would undoubtedly have elevated Asia to a point which 
she has never yet reached. But this advantage could not 
have been gained without some counterbalancing loss. The 



176 RAWLINSON 

mixed people which it was his object to produce, while vastly 
superior to ordinary Asiatics, would have fallen far below the 
Hellenic, perhaps even below the Macedonian type. It is thus 
not much to be regretted that the scheme was nipped in the 
bud, and Hellenic culture preserved in tolerable purity to ex- 
ercise a paramount influence over the Roman, and so over the 
modern, world. 

The death of Alexander has been ascribed by some to poi- 
son, by others to habitual drunkenness. But the hardships of 
the Gedrosian march and the unhealthiness of the Chaldaean 
marshes sufficiently account for it. 



SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Death of Alexander the Great to the Battle of Ipsus, 
B.C. 323 to 301.* 

The circumstances under which Alexander died led natu- 
rally to a period of convulsion. He left at his death no legiti- 
mate issue, and designated no successor. The Macedonian 
law of succession was uncertain ; and, of those who had the 
best title to the throne, there was not one who could be con- 
sidered by any unprejudiced person worthy of it. The great 
generals of the deceased king became thus, almost of necessity, 
aspirants to the regal dignity ; and it was scarcely possible that 
their rival claims could be settled without an appeal to arms 
and a long and bloody struggle. For a time, the fiction of a 
united Macedonian Empire under the sovereignty of the old 
royal family was kept up ; but from the first the generals were 

* Sources. The main authority for this period is Diodorus, books 
xviii. to XX. He appears to have followed, in this portion of his His- 
tory, the contemporary author, Hieronymus of Cardia, who wrote an 
account of Alexander and his successors, about B.C. 270. Plutarch's 
lives of Eumenes, Demetrius, and Phocion are also of considerable 
value; for, though he draws generally from Diodorus, yet occasionally 
he has recourse to independent authorities, e.g., Duris of Samos, who 
wrote a Greek and also a Macedonion History, about B.C. 280. The 
thirteenth book of Justin's History and the fragments of Arrian and 
Dexippus should also be consulted. For these fragments, see the 
" Fragmenta Historicorum Grsecorum " of C. Miiller, vol. iii. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 177 

the real depositaries of power, and practically a division of au- 
thority took effect almost from Alexander's death.* 

The difficulty with respect to the succession was terminated 
without bloodshed. The claims of Hercules being passed 
over, Arrhidaeus, who was at Babylon, was proclaimed king 
under the name of Philip, and with the understanding that he 
was to share the empire with Roxana's child, if she should give 
birth to a boy. At the same time, four guardians, or regents, 
were appointed — Antipater and Craterus in Europe, Perdiccas 
and Leonnatus (for whom was soon afterwards substituted 
Meleager) in Asia. But the murder of Meleager by Perdiccas 
shortly reduced the number of guardians to three. 

The sole command of the great army of Asia, assumed by 
Perdiccas on the death of Meleager, made his position vastly 
superior to that of his European colleagues, and enabled him 
to take the entire direction of afifairs on his own side of the 
Hellespont. But, to maintain this position, it was necessary 
for him to content the other great military chiefs, who had 
lately been his equals, and who would not have been satisfied 
to remain very much his inferiors. Accordingly, a distribu- 
tion of satrapies was made within a few weeks of Alexander's 
death ; and each chief of any pretensions received a province 
proportioned to his merits or his influence. 

It was not the intention of Perdiccas to break up the unity 
of Alexander's empire. Roxana having given birth to a boy, 
the government was carried on in the name of the two joint 
kings. Perdiccas's own office was that of vizier or prime min- 
ister. The generals who had received provinces were viewed 
by Perdiccas as mere governors intrusted with their adminis- 
tration, and answerable to the kings for it. He himself, as 
prime minister, undertook to give commands to the governors 
as to their courses of action. But he soon found that they de- 
clined to pay his commands any respect. The centrifugal 
force was greater than the centripetal; and the disintegration 
of the empire was not to be avoided. 

It was probably the uncertainty of his actual position, and 
the difficulty of improving it without some violent step, that 

* Alexander left an illegitimate son named Hercules, who was ten 
or twelve years old at the time of Alexander's death. 
12 



178 RAWLINSON 

led Perdiccas to entertain the idea of removing the kings, and 
himself seizing the empire. Though he had married Nicaea, 
the daughter of Antipater, he arranged to repudiate her, and 
negotiated a marriage with Cleopatra, Alexander's sister. 
Such a union would have given to his claims the color of legiti- 
macy. The opposition which he had chiefly to fear was that 
of his colleagues in the regency, Antipater and Craterus, and 
of the powerful satraps, Ptolemy Lagi and Antigonus. The 
former he hoped to cajole, while he crushed the latter. But 
his designs were penetrated. Antigonus fled to Macedonia, 
B.C. 322, and warned Craterus and Antipater of their danger. 
A league was made between them and Ptolemy ; and thus, in 
the war which followed, Perdiccas and his friend Eumenes 
were engaged on the one side against Antipater, Craterus, An- 
tigonus, and Ptolemy Lagi on the other. 

Perdiccas, leaving Eumenes to defend Asia, marched in per- 
son against Ptolemy. His army was from the first disaffected ; 
and, when the military operations with which he commenced 
the campaign failed, they openly mutinied, attacked him, and 
slew him in his tent. Meanwhile Eumenes, remaining on the 
defensive in Asia Minor, repulsed the assaults made upon him, 
defeated and slew Craterus, and made himself a great reputa- 
tion. 

The removal of Perdiccas from the scene necessitated a new 
arrangement. Ptolemy declining the regency, it was con- 
ferred by the army of Perdiccas on Pithon and Arrhidaeus, 
two of their generals, who with difficulty maintained their posi- 
tion against the intrigues of Eurydice, the young wife of the 
mock monarch, Philip Arrhidseus, until the arrival of Anti- 
pater in Syria, to whom they resigned their office. Antipater 
now became sole regent, silenced Eurydice, and made a fresh 
division of the provinces at Triparadisus, in Northern Syria, 
B.C. 320. 

A war followed between Antigonus and Eumenes. De- 
feated in the open field through the treachery of Apollonides, 
whom Antigonus had bribed, Eumenes took refuge in the 
mountain fastness of Nora, where he defended himself success- 
fully against every attack for many months. Antigonus 
turned his arms against other so-called rebels, defeated them, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



179 



and became master of the greater part of Asia Minor, Mean- 
while, Ptolemy picked a quarrel with Laomedon, satrap of 
Syria, sent an army into his province, and annexed it. 

The death of the regent Antipater in Macedonia produced a 
further complication. Overlooking the claims of his son, Cas- 
sander, he bequeathed the regency to his friend, the aged Po- 
lysperchon, and thus drove Cassander into opposition. Cas- 
sander fled to Antigonus ; and a league was formed between 
Ptolemy, Cassander, and Antigonus on the one hand, and Po- 
lysperchon and Eumenes on the other ; the two latter defend- 
ing the cause of unity and of the Macedonian monarchs, the 
three former that of disruption and of satrapial independence. 

Antigonus began the war by absorbing Lydia and attacking 
Mysia. He was soon, however, called away to the East by the 
threatening attitude of Eumenes, who had collected a force in 
Cilicia, with which he menaced Syria and Phoenicia. The 
command of the sea, which Phoenicia might have given, would 
have enabled Eumenes and Polysperchon to unite their forces 
and act together. It was the policy of Antigonus to prevent 
this. Accordingly, after defeating the royal fleet, commanded 
by Clitus, near Byzantium, he marched in person against Eu- 
menes, who retreated before him, crossed the Euphrates and 
Tigris, and united his troops with those of a number of the 
Eastern satraps, whom he found leagued together to resist the 
aggressions of Seleucus and Pithon. Antigonus advanced to 
Susa, while Eumenes retreated into Persia Proper. Two bat- 
tles were fought with little advantage to either side ; but at last 
the Macedonian jealousy of a foreigner and the insubordina- 
tion of Alexander's veterans prevailed. Eumenes was seized 
by his own troops, delivered up to Antigonus, and put to death, 
B.C. 316. 

Meanwhile, in Europe, Cassander had proved fully capable 
of making head against Polysperchon. After counteracting 
the effect of Polysperchon's proceedings in Attica and the Pel- 
oponnese, he had marched into Macedonia, where impor- 
tant changes had taken place among the members of the royal 
family. Eurydice, the young wife of Philip Arrhidaeus, had 
raised a party, and so alarmed Polysperchon for his own power 
that he had determined on making common cause with Olym- 



i8o RAWLINSON 

pias, who returned from Epirus to Macedon on his invitation. 
Eurydice found herself powerless in the presence of the more 
august princess, and, betaking herself to flight, was arrested, 
and, together with her husband, put to death by her rival, B.C. 
317. But Cassander avenged her the next year. Entering 
Macedonia suddenly, he carried all before him, besieged Olym- 
pias in Pydna, and, though she surrendered on terms, allowed 
her to be killed by her enemies. Roxana and the young Alex- 
ander he held as prisoners, while he strengthened his title to the 
Macedonian throne by a marriage with Thessalonica, the 
daughter of King Philip. 

Thus the rebellious satraps had everywhere triumphed over 
the royalists, and the Macedonian throne had fallen, though 
Roxana and the young Alexander were still living. But now 
the victors fell out among themselves. Antigonus, after the 
death of Eumenes, had begun to let it be seen that nothing less 
than the entire empire of Alexander would content him. He 
slew Pithon, drove Seleucus from Babylonia, and distributed 
the Eastern provinces to his creatures. He then marched 
westward, where important changes had occurred during his 
absence. Cassander had made himself complete master of 
Macedonia and Greece ; Lysimachus had firmly established 
himself in Thrace ; and Asander, satrap of Caria, had extended 
his dominion over Lycia and Cappadocia. These chiefs, fear- 
ing the ambition of Antigonus, entered into a league with 
Ptolemy Lagi and Seleucus, now a fugitive at his court ; and 
when the terms which they proposed were rejected, made prep- 
arations for war. 

The war of Antigonus against Ptolemy, Cassander, Seleu- 
cus, Asander (or the Carian Cassander), and Lysimachus lasted 
for three years. Antigonus had the assistance of his son De- 
metrius in Asia, and (at first) of Polysperchon and his son 
Alexander in Europe. He was, on the whole, moderately suc- 
cessful in Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece ; but the recovery of 
Babylonia by Seleucus, and the general adhesion to his cause 
of the Eastern provinces, more than counterbalanced these 
gains. 

The terms of the peace negotiated in B.C. 311 were, that 
each should keep what he possessed ; that the Greek cities 



ANCIENT HISTORY i8i 

should be independent ; that Cassandcr should retain his power 
till the young Alexander came of age. Seleucus was no party 
to the treaty, and was not mentioned in it. It was probably 
thought that he could well hold his own ; though had he been 
seriously menaced, the treaty would have been at once thrown 
to the winds. As it was, only a few months passed before there 
was a renewal of hostilities. 

The murder of Roxana and the young Alexander by the 
orders of Cassander was a natural consequence of the third arti- 
cle of the treaty, and was no doubt expected by Antigonus. 
He gladly saw these royal personages removed out of his way ; 
while it suited him that the odium of the act should attach to 
one of his adversaries. 

Hostilities recommenced in the year following the treaty, 
B.C. 310. They were precipitated by the breach which took 
place between Antigonus and his nephew Ptolemy, who had 
been employed by him against Cassander in Greece. Ptolemy 
Lagi was the first to take up arms. Complaining that An- 
tigonus had not withdrawn his garrisons from the Greek cities 
of Asia Minor, he undertook to liberate them. Antigonus, on 
his side, complained that Cassander did not withdraw his gar- 
risons from the cities of European Greece. Thus the war was 
renewed, nominally for the freedom of Greece. In reality, the 
contest was for supremacy on the part of Antigonus, for inde- 
pendence on that of the satraps ; and the only question with 
respect to Greece was, who should be her master. 

The conquerors at Ipsus, Seleucus and Lysimachus, divided 
the dominions of Alexander afresh. As was natural, they took 
to themselves the lion's share. The greater part of Asia Minor 
was made over to Lysimachus. Seleucus received Cappa- 
docia, part of Phrygia, Upper Syria, Mesopotamia, and the val- 
ley of the Euphrates. Cilicia was given to Cassander's 
brother, Pleistarchus. Neither Cassander himself nor Ptol- 
emy received any additions to their dominions. 

War had now raged over most of the countries conquered by 
Alexander for the space of twenty years. The loss of lives and 
the consumption of treasure had been immense. Greece, Asia 
Minor, Cyprus, and Syria, which had been the chief scenes of 
conflict, must have suffered especially. Nowhere had there 



i82 RAWLINSON 

been much attempt at organization or internal improvements, 
the attention of the rulers having been continually fixed on 
military affairs. Still, the evils of constant warfare had been, 
out of Greece at any rate, partly counterbalanced by the foun- 
dation of large and magnificent cities, intended partly as indi- 
cations of the wealth and greatness of their founders, partly 
as memorials to hand down their names to after ages ; by the 
habits of military discipline imparted to a certain number 
of the Asiatics ; and by the spread of the Greek language and 
of Greek ideas over most of Western Asia and North-eastern 
Africa. The many dialects of Asia Minor died away and com- 
pletely disappeared before the tongue of the conqueror ; which, 
even where it did not wholly oust the vernacular (as in Egypt, 
in Syria, and in Upper Asia), stood beside it and above it as 
the language of the ruling classes and of the educated, gener- 
ally intelligible to such persons from the shores of the Adriatic 
to the banks of the Indus, and from the Crimea to Elephantine. 
Knowledge rapidly progressed ; for not only did the native 
histories of Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Judsea, and other East- 
ern countries become now for the first time really known to 
the Greeks, but the philosophic thought and the accumulated 
scientific stores of the most advanced Oriental nations were 
thrown open to them, and Greek intelligence was able to em- 
ploy itself on materials of considerable value, which had hith- 
erto been quite inaccessible. A great advance was made in 
the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, geography, ethnology, 
and natural history, partly through this opening up of Oriental 
stores, partly through the enlarged acquaintance with the 
world and its phenomena which followed on the occupation by 
the Greeks of vast tracts previously untrodden by Europeans. 
Commerce, too, in spite of the unsettled state of the newly-oc- 
cupied countries, extended its operations. On the other hand, 
upon Greece itself familiarity with Asiatic ideas and modes of 
life produced a debasing effect. The Oriental habits of ser- 
vility and adulation superseded the old free-spoken indepen- 
dence and manliness ; patriotism and public spirit disappeared ; 
luxury increased; literature lost its vigor; art deteriorated; 
and the people sank into a nation of pedants, parasites, and 
adventurers. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 183 



THIRD PERIOD. 

History of the States into which the Macedonian Monarchy 
was broken up after the Battle of Ipsus. 

Part I. 
History of the Syrian Kingdom of the Seleucidce, B.C. 312 to dj.* 

The kingdom of the Seleucidoe was originally established in 
Inner Asia. It dates from the year B.C. 312, when its founder, 
Seleucus Nicator, or " the Conqueror," taking advantage of 
the check which Antigonus had received by the victory of 
Ptolemy Lagi over Demetrius, near Gaza, returned to the prov- 
ince from which he had been a few years earlier expelled by his 
great adversary, and, re-establishing himself without much dif- 
ficulty, assumed the diadem. At first, the kingdom consisted 
merely of Babylonia and the adjacent regions, Susiana, Media, 
and Persia; but, after the unsuccessful expedition of Deme- 
trius (B.C. 311), the Oriental provinces generally submitted 
themselves, and within six years from the date of his return 
to Babylon, Seleucus was master of all the countries lying 
between the Indus and Euphrates on the one hand, the Jax- 
artes and the Indian Ocean on the other. 

Shortly afterwards he undertook a great campaign against 
Sandracottus (Chandragupta), an Indian monarch, who bore 
sway in the region about the western head streams of the Gan- 
ges. After a brief struggle, he concluded a peace with this 
powerful prince, who furnished him with 500 elephants, and 
threw India open to his traders. It is probable that he pur- 

* Sources. The original authorities for the history of Syria during 
this period are two books (xix., xx.), and the fragments of several lost 
books, of Diodorus (lib. xxi.-xxxiv.). the epitome of Justin, some books 
and fragments of Polybius (especially books v., vii., and viii.), the 
" Syriaca " of Appian, Livy (books xxxi. to xlv.), the " Books of Mac- 
cabees," and the " Antiquities " of Josephus. None of these works con- 
tain a continuous or complete account of the whole period; and the 
history has to be constructed by piecing together the different narra- 
tives. The chronology of the later kings depends mainly upon the 
dates which appear on their coins. 



i84 RAWLINSON 

chased the good-will of Sandracottus by ceding to him a por- 
tion of his own Indian possessions. 

In the year B.C. 302 Seleucus, whose aid had been invoked 
by Lysimachus and Cassander, set out from Babylon for Asia 
Minor, and, having wintered in Cappadocia, effected a junction 
with the forces of Lysimachus early in the spring of B.C. 301. 
The battle of Ipsus followed. Antigonus was defeated and 
slain, and his dominions shared by his conquerors. To the 
kingdom of Seleucus v/ere added Cappadocia, part of Phrygia, 
Upper Syria, and the right bank of the middle Euphrates. 

By this arrangement the territorial increase which the king- 
dom received was not large ; but the change in the seat of 
empire, which the accession of territory brought about, was 
extremely important. By shifting his capital from Babylonia 
to Syria, from the Lower Tigris to the Orontes, Seleucus 
thought to strengthen himself against his rivals, Lysimachus 
and Ptolemy. He forgot, apparently, that by placing his cap- 
ital at one extremity of his long kingdom he weakened it gen- 
erally, and, in particular, loosened his grasp upon the more 
eastern provinces, which were the least Hellenized and the 
most liable to revolt. Had Babylon or Seleucia continued the 
seat of government, the East might probably have been re- 
tained ; the kingdom of the Parthians might never have grown 
up. Rome, when she interfered in the affairs of Asia, would 
have found a great Greek Empire situated beyond the Eu- 
phrates, and so almost inaccessible to her arms ; the two civil- 
izations would have co-existed, instead of being superseded 
the one by the other, and the history of Asia and of the world 
would have been widely different. 

The followers of Alexander inherited from their master a 
peculiar fondness for the building of new cities, which they 
called after themselves, their fathers, or their favorite wives. 
Cassander built Thessalonica on the bay of the name, and 
Cassandreia in the peninsula of Pallene. Lysimachus fixed 
his seat of government at a new town, which he called Lysi- 
macheia, on the neck of the Chersonese. Antigonus was build- 
ing Antigoneia, on the Orontes, when he fell at Ipsus. His 
son, Demetrius, made his capital Demetrias, on the gulf of 
Pagasse. Seleucus, even before he transferred the seat of gov- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 185 

ernment to Antioch, had removed it from Babylon to his city 
of Seleucia, on the Tigris. Ptolemy alone maintained the cap- 
ital which he found established on his arrival in Egypt. The 
numerous Antiochs, Laodiceias, Epiphaneias, and Seleuceias, 
with which Asia became covered, attest the continuance of the 
taste in the successors of Nicator. 

Though Seleucus had come to the rescue, on the invitation 
of Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus, yet he was well aware 
that he could place no dependence on the continuance of their 
amity. His success made them jealous of him, and induced 
them to draw nearer to each other, and unite their interests by 
intermarriages. Seleucus, therefore, cast about for an ally, 
and found one in Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, his late 
adversary, whom he attached to himself in the same way. 
Demetrius, who had escaped from Ipsus with a considerable 
force, was a personage of importance ; and, by supporting 
him in his quarrels with Cassander, and then Lysimachus, 
Seleucus was able to keep those princes employed. 

In Asia a period of tranquillity followed the marriage of Se- 
leucus. Cassander and Lysimachus were occupied with wars 
in Europe raised by the ambition of Demetrius. Ptolemy by 
himself was too weak to effect any thing, and, having been al- 
lowed to retain Lower Syria and Palestine, had no ground of 
complaint. Seleucus employed the interval (about twelve 
years, B.C. 299 to 287) in building his capital, Antioch; en- 
larging and beautifying its port, Seleuceia ; and consolidating, 
arranging, and organizing his vast empire. The whole terri- 
tory was divided into seventy-two satrapies, which were placed 
under the government of Greeks or Macedonians, not of na- 
tives. A large standing army was maintained, composed main- 
ly of native troops, officered by Macedonians or Greeks. After 
a while, Seleucus divided his empire with his son Antiochus, 
committing to him the entire government of all the provinces 
beyond the Euphrates — a dangerous precedent, though one 
which can scarcely be said to have had actual evil consequences. 
At the same time, Seleucus yielded to Antiochus the possession 
of his consort, Stratonice, with whom that prince had fallen 
desperately in love. 

The first disturbance of the tranquillity was caused by the 



,86 RAWLINSON 

wild projects of Demetrius. That hare-brained prince, after 
gaining and then losing Macedonia, plunged suddenly into 
Asia, where he hoped to win by his sword a new dominion. 
Unable to make any serious impression on the kingdom of 
Lysimachus, he entered Cilicia and became engaged in hos- 
tilities with Seleucus, who defeated him, took him prisoner, 
and kept him in a private condition for the rest of his life. 

Shortly afterwards, B.C. 281, occurred the rupture between 
Seleucus and Lysimachus, which led to the death of that aged 
monarch and the conquest of great part of his dominions. 
Domestic troubles, caused by Arsinoe, paved the way for the 
attack of Seleucus, who found his best support in the disafTec- 
tion of his enemy's subjects. The battle of Corupedion cost 
Lysimachus his life ; and gave the whole of Asia Minor into 
the hands of the Syrian king. It might have been expected 
that the European provinces would have been gained with 
equal ease, and that, with the exception of Egypt, the scat- 
tered fragments of Alexander's empire would have been once 
more reunited. But an avenger of Lysimachus appeared in 
the person of the Egyptian exile, Ptolemy Ceraunus, the eldest 
son of Ptolemy Lagi ; and as Seleucus was proceeding to take 
possession of Lysimacheia, his late rival's capital, he was mur- 
dered in open day by the Egyptian adventurer, who thereupon 
became king of Macedon. 

Antiochus L (Soter) succeeded to his father's dominions, 
B.C. 280, and shortly became engaged in hostilities with Zi- 
poetes and Nicomedes, native kings of Bithynia, the former 
of whom had successfully maintained his independence against 
Lysimachus. Nicomedes (B.C. 278), finding his own resources 
insufficient for the struggle, availed himself of the assistance 
of the Gauls, who had been now for some years ravaging East- 
ern Europe, and had already aided him against his brother 
Zipoetes. With their help he maintained his independence, and 
crippled the power of Antiochus, who lost Northern Phrygia, 
which was occupied by the Gauls and became Galatia, and 
North-western Lydia, which became the kingdom of Perga- 
mus. Antiochus succeeded in inflicting one considerable defeat 
on the Gauls, B.C. 275, whence his cognomen of " Soter " 
(Saviour); otherwise his expeditions were unfortunate; and 



ANCIENT HISTORY 187 

the Syrian empire at his death had decHned considerably below 
the point of greatness and splendor reached under Nicator. 

Antiochus II. surnamed ©ed?, " the God," succeeded his 
father. He was a weak and effeminate prince, sunk in sensual- 
ity and profligacy, who allowed the kingdom to be ruled by 
his wives and male favorites. Under him the decline of the 
empire became rapid. The weakness of his government tempt- 
ed the provinces to rebel ; and the Parthian and Bactrian king- 
doms date from his reign. The only success which attended 
him was in his war with Egypt, at the close of which he recov- 
ered what he had previously lost to Philadelphus in Asia Minor. 

Seleucus II., surnamed Callinicus, became king on the as- 
sassination of his father. Throughout his reign, which lasted 
rather more than twenty years, B.C. 246 to 226, he was most 
unfortunate, being engaged in wars with Ptolemy Euergetes, 
with Antiochus Hierax, his own brother, and with the Parthian 
king, Arsaces II., in all of which he met with disasters. Still, 
it is remarkable that, even when his fortunes were at the lowest 
ebb, he always found a means of recovering himself, so that 
his epithet of Callinicus, " the Victorious," was not wholly in- 
appropriate. The kingdom must have been greatly weakened 
and exhausted during his reign ; but its limits were not seri- 
ously contracted. Portions of Asia Minor were indeed lost 
to Ptolemy and to Attains, and the Parthians appear to have 
made themselves masters of Hyrcania ; but, excepting in these 
two quarters, Seleucus recovered his losses, and left the terri- 
tories which he had inherited to his son, Seleucus Ceraunus. 

Seleucus III. — surnamed Ceraunus, " the Thunderbolt " — 
had a reign which lasted only three years. Assisted by his 
cousin, the young Achaeus, he prepared a great expedition 
against the Pergamene monarch, Attains, whose dominions 
now reached to the Taurus. His ill-paid army, however, while 
on the march, became mutinous ; and he was assassinated by 
some of his officers, B.C. 2.2'i^. 

On the death of Seleucus III., Antiochus HI., surnamed 
" the Great," ascended the throne. His long reign, which ex- 
ceeded thirty-six years, constitutes the most eventful period 
of Syrian history. Antiochus did much to recover, consolidate, 
and in some quarters enlarge, his empire. He put down the 



i88 RAWLINSON 

important rebellions of Molo and Achaeas, checked the prog- 
ress of the Parthians and Bactrians, restored his frontier to- 
wards India, drove the Egyptians from Asia, and even at one 
time established his dominion over a portion of Europe. But 
these successes were more than counterbalanced by the losses 
which he sustained in his war with the Romans, whom he need- 
lessly drew into Asia. The alliance between Rome and Perga- 
mus, and the consequent aggrandizement of that kingdom, 
were deeply injurious to Syria, and greatly accelerated her de- 
cline. Antiochus was unwise to provoke the hostility of the 
Romans, and foolish, when he had provoked it, not to take 
the advice of Hannibal as to the mode in which the war should 
be conducted. Had he united with Macedonia and Carthage, 
and transferred the contest into Italy, the Roman power might 
have been broken or checked. By standing alone, and on the 
defensive, he at once made his defeat certain, and rendered its 
consequences more injurious than they would have been other- 
wise. 

Antiochus was succeeded by his son, Seleucus IV., who took 
the name of Philopator, and reigned eleven years, B.C. 187 to 
176. This period was wholly uneventful. The fear of Rome, 
and the weakness produced by exhaustion, forced Seleucus to 
remain quiet, even when Eumenes of Pergamus seemed about 
to conquer and absorb Pontus. Rome held as a hostage for 
his fidelity, first, his brother, Antiochus, and then his son, 
Demetrius. Seleucus was murdered by Heliodorus, his treas- 
urer (B.C. 176), who hoped to succeed to his dominions. 

On the death of Seleucus, the throne was seized by Helio- 
dorus ; but it was not long before Antiochus, the brother of the 
late king, with the help of the Pergamene monarch, Eumenes, 
recovered it. This prince, who is known in history as Antio- 
chus IV., or (more commonly) as Antiochus Epiphanes, was 
a man of courage and energy. He engaged in important wars 
with Armenia and Egypt ; and would beyond a doubt have 
conquered the latter country, had it not been for the interposi- 
tion of the Romans. Still, the energy of Epiphanes was of 
little benefit to his country. He gained no permanent advan- 
tage from his Egyptian campaigns, since the Romans deprived 
him even of Cyprus. He made no serious impression on Ar- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 189 

menia, though he captured Artaxias, its sovereign. On the 
other hand, his rehgious intolerance raised him up an enemy 
in the heart of his empire, whose bitter hostihty proved under 
his successors a prohfic source of weakness. The Jews, favored 
by former kings of Syria, were driven to desperation by the 
mad project of this self-willed monarch, who, not content with 
plundering the Temple to satisfy his necessities, profaned it 
by setting up in the Holy of Holies the image of Jupiter 
Olympius. His luxury and extravagance also tended to ruin 
his empire, and made him seek to enrich himself with the plun- 
der of other temples besides that at Jerusalem. An attempt 
of this kind, which was baffled, in Elymais, is said to have been 
followed by an access of superstitious terror, which led to his 
death at Tabse, B.C. 164. 

Epiphanes was succeeded by Antiochus V., surnamed Eu- 
pator, a boy not more than twelve years old. The chief power 
during his reign was in the hands of Lysias, whom Epiphanes 
had left as regent when he quitted Antioch. Lysias attempts 
to reduce the rebel Jews, but allows himself to be diverted from 
the war by the attitude of his rival Philip, whom he attacks, 
defeats, and puts to death. He takes no steps, however, to 
resist the Parthians when they overrun the Eastern provinces, 
or the Romans when they harshly enforce the terms of the 
treaty concluded after the battle of Magnesia. The position 
of affairs, which we can well understand the Romans favoring, 
was most injurious to the power of Syria, which, in the hands 
of a minor and a regent, was equally incapable of maintaining 
internal order and repelling foreign attack. It was an advan- 
tage to Syria when Demetrius, the adult son of Seleucus Philo- 
pator, escaped from Rome, where he had been long detained 
as a hostage, and, putting Lysias and Eupator to death, him- 
self mounted the throne. 

Demetrius, having succeeded in obtaining the sanction of 
Rome to his usurpation, occupied himself for some years in 
attempts to reduce the Jews. He appears to have been a vig- 
orous administrator, and a man of considerable ambition and 
energy ; but he could not arrest the decline of the Syrian state. 
The Romans compelled him to desist from his attacks on the 
Jews ; and when he ventured on an expedition into Cappa- 



igo RAWLINSON 

docia, for the purpose of expelling the king Ariarathes, and 
giving the crown to Orophernes, his bastard brother, a league 
was formed against him by the neighboring kings, to which 
the Romans became parties ; and a pretender, Alexander Balas, 
an illegitimate son of Epiphanes, was encouraged to come for- 
ward and claim the throne. So low had the Syrian power now 
sunk, that both Demetrius and his rival courted the favor of 
the despised Jews ; and their adhesion to the cause of the pre- 
tender probably turned the scale in his favor. After two years 
of warfare and two important battles, Demetrius was defeated, 
and lost both his crown and life. 

Alexander Balas, who had been supported in his struggle 
with Demetrius by the kings of Pergamus and Egypt, was 
given by the latter the hand of Cleopatra, his daughter. But 
he soon proved himself unfit to rule. Committing the man- 
agement of affairs to an unworthy favorite, Ammonius, he gave 
himself up to every kind of self-indulgence. Upon this, Deme- 
trius, the eldest son of the late king, perceiving that Balas had 
become odious to his subjects, took heart, and, landing in Cili- 
cia, commenced a struggle for the throne. The fidelity of the 
Jews protected Alexander for a while ; but when his father- 
in-law, Ptolemy Philometor, passed over to the side of his an- 
tagonist, the contest was decided against him. Defeated in 
a pitched battle near Antioch, he fied to Abse in Arabia, where 
he was assassinated by his own officers, who sent his head to 
Ptolemy. 

Demetrius II., surnamed Nicator, then ascended the throne. 
He had already, while pretender, married Cleopatra, the wife 
of his rival, whom Ptolemy had forced Balas to give up. On 
obtaining full possession of the kingdom, he ruled tyrannically, 
and disgusted many of his subjects. The people of Antioch 
having risen in revolt, and Demetrius having allowed his Jew- 
ish body-guard to plunder the town, Diodotus of Apamea set 
up a rival king in the person of Antiochus VI., son of Alexan- 
der Balas, a child of two years of age, who bore the regal title 
for three or four years (B.C. 146 to 143), after which Diodotus 
removed him, and, taking the name of Trypho, declared him- 
self independent monarch (avroKpaTcop). After vain efforts to 
reduce his rivals for the space of about seven years, Demetrius, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 191 

leaving his wife, Cleopatra, to maintain his interests in Syria, 
marched into his Eastern provinces, which were in danger of 
falling a prey to the Parthians. Here, though at first he gained 
such advantages as enabled him to assume the title of " Con- 
queror " {viKdTQ)p),his arms soon met with a reverse. Defeated 
by the Parthian monarch, Arsaces VI., in the year B.C. 140, 
he was taken prisoner, and remained a captive at the Parthian 
court for several years. 

During the absence of Demetrius in the remote East, his 
wife, Cleopatra, unable to make head against Tryphon, looked 
out for some effectual support, and found it in Antiochus of 
Sida (Sidetes), her husband's brother, who, joining his arms 
with hers, attacked Tryphon, and after a struggle, which seems 
to have lasted nearly two years, defeated him and put him to 
death. Antiochus Sidetes upon this became sole monarch of 
Syria, B.C. 137, and contracted a marriage with Cleopatra, his 
captive brother's wife, who considered herself practically di- 
vorced by her husband's captivity and marriage with a Par- 
thian princess. His first step, after establishing his authority, 
was to reduce the Jews, B.C. 135 to 133. A few years later, 
B.C. 129, he undertook an expedition into Parthia for the pur- 
pose of delivering his brother, and gained some important suc- 
cesses ; but was finally defeated by the Parthian monarch, who 
attacked his army in its winter-quarters, and destroyed it with 
its commander. 

Meanwhile Demetrius H., having been released from cap- 
tivity by the Parthian monarch, who hoped by exciting 
troubles in Syria to force Antiochus to retreat, had reached 
Antioch and recovered his former kingdom. But he was not 
suiifered to remain long in tranquillity. Ptolemy Physcon, the 
king of Egypt, raised up a pretender to his crown in the person 
of Alexander Zabinas, who professed to be the son of Balas. 
A battle was fought between the rivals near Damascus, in 
which Demetrius was completely defeated. Forced to take 
flight, he sought a refuge with his wife at Ptolemais, but was 
rejected ; whereupon he endeavored to throw himself into Tyre, 
but was captured and slain, B.C. 126. 

War followed between Zabinas and Cleopatra, who, having 
put to death Seleucus, her eldest son, because he had assumed 



192 RAWLINSON 

the diadem without her permission, associated with herself on 
the throne her second son, Antiochus, and reigned conjointly 
with him till B.C. 121. Zabinas maintained himself in parts of 
Syria for seven years ; but, having quarrelled with his patron, 
Ptolemy Physcon, he was reduced to straits, about B.C. 124, 
and two years afterwards was completely crushed by Anti- 
ochus, who forced him to swallow poison, B.C. 122. Soon 
afterwards — B.C. 121 — Antiochus found himself under the ne- 
cessity of putting his mother to death in order to secure his 
own life, against which he discovered her to be plotting. 

Syria now enjoyed a period of tranquillity under Antiochus 
VIII., for the space of eight years, B.C. 122 to 1 14. The East- 
ern provinces were, however, completely lost, and no attempt 
was made to recover them. The Syrian kingdom was con- 
fined within Taurus on the north, the Euphrates on the east, 
and Palestine on the south. Judsea had become wholly inde- 
pendent. The great empire, which had once reached from 
Phrygia to the Indus, had shrunk to the dimensions of a prov- 
ince ; and there was no spirit in either prince or people to 
make any efifort to regain what had been lost. The country 
was exhausted by the constant wars, the pillage of the soldiers, 
and the rapacity of the monarchs. Wealth was accumulated 
in a few hands. The people of the capital were wholly given 
up to luxury. If Rome had chosen to step in at any time after 
the death of the second Demetrius, she might have become 
mistress of the whole of Syria almost without a struggle. At 
first her domestic troubles, and then her contest with Mith- 
ridates, hindered her, so that it was not till half a century later 
that the miseries of Syria were ended by her absorption into 
the Roman Empire. 

The tranquillity of Antiochus VIII. was disturbed in B.C. 
114 by the revolt of his half-brother, Antiochus Cyzicenus, the 
son of Cleopatra by Antiochus Sidetes, her third husband. A 
bloody contest followed, which it was attempted to terminate 
at the close of three years, B.C. 1 11, by a partition of the terri- 
tory. But the feud soon broke out afresh. War raged be- 
tween the brothers for nine years, B.C. 105 to 96, with varied 
success, but with no decided advantage to either, while the dis- 
integration of the empire rapidly proceeded. The towns on 



ANCIENT HISTORY 193 

the coast, Tyre, Sidon, Selcuccia, assumed independence. Ci- 
licia revolted. The Arabs ravaged Syria on the one hand, and 
the Egyptians on the other. At length, amid these various 
calamities, the reign of Antiochus VIII. came to an end by his 
assassination, in B.C. 96, by Heracleon, an officer of his court. 

Heracleon endeavored to seize the crown, but failed. It fell 
to Seleucus V. (Epiphanes), the eldest son of Grypus, who con- 
tinued the war with Antiochus Cyzicenus, and brought it to a 
successful issue in the second year of his reign, B.C. 95, when 
Cyzicenus, defeated in a great battle, slew himself to prevent 
his capture. But the struggle between the two houses was not 
yet ended. Antiochus Eusebes, the son of Cyzicenus, as- 
sumed the royal title, and attacking Seleucus drove him out of 
Syria into Cilicia, where he perished miserably, being burnt 
alive by the people of Mopsuestia, from whom he had required 
a contribution. 

Philip, the second son of Antiochus Grypus, succeeded, and 
carried on the war with Eusebes for some years, in conjunction 
with his brothers, Demetrius, and Antiochus Dionysus, until at 
last Eusebes was overcome and forced to take refuge in Par- 
thia. Philip and his brothers then fell out, and engaged in war 
one against another. At length the Syrians, seeing no end to 
these civil contests, called to their aid the king of the neigh- 
boring Armenia, Tigranes, and putting themselves under his 
rule, obtained a respite from suffering for about fourteen years, 
B.C. 83 to 69. At the close of this period, Tigranes, having 
mixed himself up in the Mithridatic war, was defeated by the 
Romans, and forced to relinquish Syria. 

The Syrian throne seems then to have fallen to Antiochus 
Asiaticus, the son of Eusebes, who held it for four years only, 
when he was dispossessed by Pompey, and the remnant of the 
kingdom of the Seleucidae was reduced into the form of a Ro- 
man province, B.C. 65. 
13 



194 



RAWLINSON 



Part II. 

History of iJie Egyptian Kingdom of the Ptolemies, B.C. 32 j to jo.'^ 

The kingdom of the Ptolemies, which owed its origin to 
Alexander the Great, rose to a pitch of greatness and prosper- 
ity which, it is probable, was never dreamt of by the Conqueror. 
His subjection of Egypt was accomplished rapidly ; and he 
spent but little time in the organization of his conquest. Still, 
the foundation of all Egypt's later greatness was laid, and the 
character of its second civilization determined, by him, in the 
act by which he transferred the seat of government from the 
inland position of Memphis to the maritime Alexandria. By 
this alteration not only was the continued pre-eminence of the 
Macedo-Greek element secured, but the character of the Egyp- 
tians themselves was modified. Commercial pursuits were 
adopted by a large part of the nation. Intercourse with for- 
eigners, hitherto cliecked and discouraged, became common. 
Production was stimulated ; enterprise throve ; and the stereo- 
typed habits of this most rigid of ancient peoples were to a 
large extent broken into. In language and religion they still 
continued separate from their conquerors ; but their manners 
and tone of thought underwent a change. The stifif-necked 
rebels against the authority of the Persian crown became the 
willing subjects of the Macedonians. Absorbed in the pur- 
suits of industry, or in the novel employment of literature, the 
Egyptians forgot their old love of independence, and content- 
edly acquiesced in the new regime. 

* Sources. The sources for the Egyptian history of this period are for 
the most part identical with those which have been mentioned at the 
head of the last section as sources for the history of the Seleucidae; but 
on the whole they are scantier and less satisfactory. As the contact 
between Judaea and Egypt during this period was only occasional, the 
information furnished by Josephus and the " Books of Maccabees " is 
discontinuous and fragmentary. Again, there is no work on Egypt 
corresponding to the " Syriaca " of Appian. The chronology, more- 
over, is in confusion, owing to the fact that the Ptolemies adopted no 
era. only dating their coins in some instances by their regnal years; 
so that the exactness which an era furnishes is wanting. Some im- 
portant details with respect to foreign conquests and to the internal 
administration are, however, preserved to us in Inscriptions. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 195 

In the history of nations much depends on the characters of 
individuals; and Egypt seems to have been very largely in- 
debted to the first Ptolemy for her extraordinary prosperity. 
Assigned the African provinces in the division of Alexander's 
dominions after his death (B.C. 323), he proceeded at once to 
his government, and, resigning any great ambition, sought to 
render his own territory unassailable, and to make such addi- 
tions to it as could be attempted without much risk. It was 
among his special aims to make Egypt a great naval power; 
and in this he succeeded almost beyond his hopes, having after 
many vicissitudes established his authority over Palestine, 
Phoenicia, and Ccele-Syria ; and also possessed himself of the 
island of Cyprus. Cilicia, Caria, and Pamphylia were open to 
his attacks, and sometimes subject to his sway. For a time he 
even held important positions in Greece, e.g., Corinth and 
Sicyon ; but he never allowed the maintenance of these distant 
acquisitions to entangle him inextricably in foreign wars, or to 
endanger his home dominions. Attacked twice in his own 
province, once by Perdiccas (B.C. 321), and once by Demetrius 
and Antigonus (B.C. 306), he both times repulsed his assail- 
ants and maintained his own territory intact. Readily retiring 
if danger threatened, he was always prompt to advance when 
occasion offered. His combined prudence and vigor obtained 
the reward of ultimate success ; and his death left Egypt in pos- 
session of all the more important of his conquests. 

In one quarter alone did Ptolemy endeavor to extend his 
African dominion. The flourishing country of the Cyrena'ica, 
which lay not far from Egypt upon the west, had welcomed 
Alexander as a deliverer from the power of Persia, and had 
been accepted by him into alliance. Ptolemy, who coveted its 
natural wealth, and disliked the existence of an independent 
republic in his neighborhood, found an occasion in the troubles 
which at this time fell upon Cyrene, to establish his authority 
over the whole region. At the same time he must have 
brought under subjection the Libyan tribes of the district be- 
tween Egypt and the Cyrena'ica, who in former times had been 
dependent upon the native Egyptian monarchy, and had sub- 
mitted to the Persians when Egypt was conquered by Cam- 
byses. 



196 RAWLINSON 

The system of government established by Ptolemy Lagi, so 
far as it can be made out, was the following. The monarch 
was supreme, and indeed absolute, having the sole direction of 
affairs and the sole appointment of all officers. The changes, 
however, made in the internal administration were few. The 
division of the whole country into nomes was maintained ; and 
most of the old nomes were kept, a certain number only being 
subdivided. Each was ruled by its nomarch, who received his 
appointment from the crown, and might at any time be super- 
seded. The nomarchs were frequently, perhaps even gener- 
ally, native Egyptians. They administered in their provinces 
the old Egyptian laws, and maintained the old Egyptian re- 
ligion. It was from first to last a part of the established policy 
of the Lagid monarchs to protect and honor the religion of 
their subjects, which they regarded as closely akin to their own, 
and of which they ostentatiously made themselves the patrons. 
Ptolemy Lagi began the practice of rebuilding and ornament- 
ing the temples of the Egyptian gods, and paid particular 
honor to the supposed incarnations of Apis. The old priv- 
ileges of the priests, and especially their exemption from land- 
tax, were continued ; and they were allowed everywhere the 
utmost freedom in the exercise of every rite of their religion. 
In return for these favors the priests were expected to acknowl- 
edge a quasi-divinity in the Lagid monarchs, and to perform 
certain ceremonies in their honor, both in their lifetime and 
after their decease. 

At the same time many exclusive privileges were reserved 
for the conquering race. The tranquillity of the country was 
maintained by a standing army composed almost exclusively 
of Greeks and Macedonians, and officered wholly by members 
of the dominant class. This army was located in, compar- 
atively, a few spots, so that its presence was not much felt by 
the great bulk of the population. As positions of authority in 
the military service were reserved for Graeco-Macedonians, so 
also in the civil service of the country all offices of any im- 
portance were filled up from the same class. This class, more- 
over, which was found chiefly in a small number of the chief 
towns, enjoyed full municipal liberty in these places, electing 
its own officers, and, for the most part, administering its own 



ANCIENT HISTORY 197 

affairs without interference on the part of the central govern- 
ment. 

One of the chief pecuharitics of the early Lagid kingdom — 
a peculiarity for which it was indebted to its founder — was its 
encouragement of literature and science. Ptolemy Lagi was 
himself an author; and, alone among the successors of Alex- 
ander, inherited the regard for men of learning and research 
which had distinguished his great patron. Following the ex- 
ample of Aristotle, he set himself to collect an extensive library, 
and lodged it in a building connected with the royal palace. 
Men of learning were invited by him to take up their residence 
at Alexandria ; and the " Museum " was founded, a College of 
Professors, which rapidly drew to it a vast body of students, 
and rendered Alexandria the university of the Eastern world. 
It was too late in the history of the Greek race to obtain, by the 
fostering influence of judicious patronage, the creation of mas- 
terpieces ; but exact science, criticism, and even poetry of an 
unpretentious kind, were produced ; and much excellent liter- 
ary work was done, to the great benefit of the moderns. Eu- 
clid, and Apollonius of Perga, in mathematics ; Philetas, Calli- 
machus, and Apollonius of Rhodes, in poetry ; Aristophanes 
of Byzantium, and Aristarchus, in criticism ; Eratosthenes in 
chronology and geography ; Hipparchus in astronomical sci- 
ence ; and Manetho in history — adorned the Lagid period, and 
sufBciently indicate that the Lagid patronage of learning was 
not unfruitful. Apelles, too, and Antiphilus produced many 
of their best pictures at the Alexandrian court. 

The character of Ptolemy Lagi was superior to that of most 
of the princes who were his contemporaries. In an age of 
treachery and violence, he appears to have remained faithful to 
his engagements, and to have been rarely guilty of any blood- 
shed that was not absolutely necessary for his own safety and 
that of his kingdom. His mode of life was simple and unos- 
tentatious. He was a brave soldier, and never scrupled to in- 
cur personal danger. The generosity of his temper was 
evinced by his frequently setting his prisoners free without 
ransom. In his domestic relations he was, however, unhappy. 
He married two wives, Euridyce, the daughter of Antipater, 
whom he divorced, and Berenice, her companion. By Eury- 



198 RAWLINSON 

dice he had a son, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who should naturally 
have been his successor ; but Berenice prevailed on him in his 
old age to prefer her son, Philadelphus ; and Ptolemy Cerau- 
nus, offended, became an exile from his country, and an in- 
triguer against the interests of his brother and his other rel- 
atives. Enmity and bloodshed were thus introduced into the 
family ; and to that was shortly afterwards added the crime of 
incest, a fatal cause of decay and corruption. 

Ptolemy Lagi adorned his capital with a number of great 
works. The principal of these were the royal palace, the Mu- 
seum, the lofty Pharos, upon the island which formed the port, 
the mole or causeway, nearly a mile in length (Heptastadium), 
which connected this island with the shore, the Soma or mauso- 
leum, containing the body of Alexander, the temple of Serapis 
(completed by his son, Philadelphus), and the Hippodrome or 
great race-course. He likewise rebuilt the inner chamber of 
the grand temple at Karnak, and probably repaired many other 
Egyptian buildings. After a reign of forty years, having at- 
tained to the advanced age of eighty-four, he died in Alexan- 
dria, B.C. 283, leaving his crown to his son, Philadelphus, the 
eldest of his children by Berenice, whom he had already two 
years before associated with him in the kingdom. 

Ptolemy H., surnamed Philadelphus, was born at Cos, B.C. 
309, and was consequently twenty-six years of age at the com- 
mencement of his sole reign. He inherited his father's love 
for literature and genius for administration, but not his mili- 
tary capacity. Still, he did not abstain altogether even from 
aggressive wars, but had an eye to the events which were pass- 
ing in other countries, and sought to maintain by his arms the 
balance of power established in his father's lifetime. His chief 
wars were with the rebel king of Cyrene, his half-brother, 
Magas; with Antiochus I. and Antiochus H., kings of Syria; 
and with Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedon. They occu- 
pied the space of about twenty years, from B.C. 269 to 249. 
Philadelphus was fairly successful in them, excepting that he 
was forced, as the result of his struggle with Magas, to ac- 
knowledge the independence of that monarch. 

The home administration of Ptolemy Philadelphus was in 
all respects eminently successful. To him belongs the credit 



ANCIENT HISTORY 199 

of developing to their fullest extent the commercial advantages 
which the position of Egypt throws open to her, and of bring- 
ing by these means her material prosperity to its culminating 
point. By reopening the canal uniting the Red Sea with the 
Nile — a construction of the greatest of the Ramesside kings 
— and building the port of Arsinoe on the site of the modern 
Suez, he united the East and West, allowing the merchandise 
of either region to reach the other by water carriage. As this, 
however, owing to the dangers of the Red Sea navigation, was 
not enough, he constructed two other harbors, and founded 
two other cities, each called Berenice, on the eastern African 
coast, one nearly in lat. 24°, the other still farther to the south, 
probably about lat. 13°. A high-road was opened from the 
northern Berenice to Coptos on the Nile (near Thebes), and 
the merchandise of India, Arabia, and Ethiopia flowed to Eu- 
rope for several centuries chiefly by this route. The Ethiopian 
trade was particularly valuable. Not only was ivory imported 
largely from this region, but the elephant was hunted on a 
large scale, and the hunters' captures were brought alive into 
Egypt, where they were used in the military service. Ptole- 
mais, in lat. 18° 40', was the emporium for this traffic. 

The material prosperity of Egypt which these measures in- 
sured was naturally accompanied by a flourishing condition 
of the revenue. Philadelphus is said to have derived from 
Egypt alone, without counting the tribute in grain, an annual 
income of 14,800 talents (more than three and a half millions 
sterling), or as much as Darius Hystaspis obtained from the 
whole of his vast empire. The revenue was raised chiefly from 
customs, but was supplemented from other sources. The re- 
moter provinces, Palestine, Phoenicia, Cyprus, etc., seem to 
have paid a tribute ; but of the mode of its assessment we know 
nothing. 

The military force which Philadelphus maintained is said to 
have amounted to 200,000 foot and 40,000 horse, besides ele- 
phants and war-chariots. He had also a fleet of 1500 vessels, 
many of which were of extraordinary size. The number of 
rowers required to man these vessels must have exceeded, 
rather than fallen short of, 600,000 men. 

The fame of Philadelphus depends, however, far less upon 



200 RAWLINSON 

his military exploits, or his talents for organization and ad- 
ministration, than upon his efforts in the cause of learning. 
In this respect, if in no other, he surpassed his father, and de- 
serves to be regarded as the special cause of the literary glories 
of his country. The library which the first Ptolemy had 
founded was by the second so largely increased that he has 
often been regarded as its author. The minor library of the 
Serapeium was entirely of his collection. Learned men were 
invited to his court from every quarter ; and literary works of 
the highest value were undertaken at his desire or under his 
patronage. Among these the most important were the trans- 
lation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language (which 
was commenced in his reign and continued under several of 
his successors), and the " History of Egypt," derived from the 
native records, which was composed in Greek during his reign 
by the Egyptian priest Manetho. Philadelphus also patron- 
ized painting and sculpture, and adorned his capital with 
architectural works of great magnificence. 

In his personal character, Philadelphus presents an unfa- 
vorable contrast to his father. Immediately upon attaining the 
throne he banished Demetrius Phalereus, for the sole offense 
that he had advised Ptolemy Lagi against altering the succes- 
sion. Shortly afterwards he put to death two of his brothers. 
He divorced his first wife Arsinoe, the daughter of Lysima- 
chus, and banished her to Coptos in Upper Egypt, in order 
that he might contract an incestuous marriage with his full 
sister, Arsinoe, who had been already married to his half- 
brother Ceraunus. To this princess, who bore him no chil- 
dren, he continued tenderly attached, taking in reference to 
her the epithet " Philadelphus," and honoring her by giving 
her name to several of the cities which he built, and erecting 
to her memory a magnificent monument at Alexandria, which 
was known as the Arsinoeum. Nor did he long survive her 
decease. He died in B.C. 247, of disease, at Alexandria, hav- 
ing lived sixty-two years, and reigned thirty-eight, or thirty- 
six from the death of his father. 

Ptolemy III., surnamed Euergetes (" the Benefactor "), the 
eldest son of Philadelphus by his first wife, succeeded him. 
This prince was the most enterprising of all the Lagid mon- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 201 

arclis ; and under him Egypt, which had hitherto maintained 
a defensive attitude, became an aggressive power, and accom- 
phshed important conquests. The greater part of these were, 
it is true, retained for only a few years ; but others were more 
permanent, and became real additions to the empire. The 
empire obtained now its greatest extension, comprising, be- 
sides Egypt and Nubia, the Cyrenaica, which was recovered 
by the marriage of Berenice, daughter and heiress of Magas, 
to Euergetes; parts of Ethiopia, especially the tract about 
Adule ; a portion of the opposite or western coast of Arabia ; 
Palestine, Phoenicia, and Coele-Syria ; Cyprus, Cilicia, Pam- 
phylia, Lycia, Caria, and Ionia ; the Cyclades ; and a portion 
of Thrace, including the city of Lysimacheia in the Chersonese. 

Friendly relations had been established with Rome by Ptol- 
emy Philadelphus, as early as B.C. 273. Euergetes continued 
this policy, but declined the assistance which the great republic 
was anxious to lend him in his Syrian wars. It would seem 
that the ambitious projects of Rome and her aspirations after 
universal dominion were already, at the least, suspected. 

Like his father and grandfather, Euergetes was a patron 
of art and letters. He added largely to the great library at 
Alexandria, collecting the best manuscripts from all quarters, 
sometimes by very questionable means. The poet, Apollonius 
Rhodius, the geographer and chronologist, Eratosthenes, and 
the grammarian Aristophanes of Byzantium, adorned his court. 
Alexandria does not seem to have owed to him many of her 
buildings ; but he gratified his Egyptian subjects by important 
architectural works, as well as by the restoration of various 
images of their gods, which he had recovered in his Eastern 
expedition. 

After a reign of twenty-five years, during which he had 
enjoyed almost uninterrupted success, and had raised Egypt 
to perhaps the highest pitch of prosperity that she ever at- 
tained, Euergetes died, according to the best authority, by 
a natural death ; though there were not wanting persons to 
ascribe his decease to the machinations of his son. He left 
behind him three children — Ptolemy, who succeeded him, 
Magas, and Arsinoe, who became the wife of her elder brother. 

The glorious period of the Macedo-Egyptian history termi- 



202 RAWLINSON 

nates with Euergetes. Three kings of remarkable talent, and 
of moderately good moral character, had held the throne for 
a little more than a century (loi years), and had rendered 
Egypt the most flourishing of the kingdoms which had arisen 
out of the disruption of Alexander's empire. They were fol- 
lowed by a succession of wicked and incapable monarchs, 
among whom it is difficult to find one who has any claim to 
our respect or esteem. Historians reckon nine Ptolemies after 
Euergetes. Except Philometor, who was mild and humane, 
Lathyrus, who was amiable but weak, and Ptolemy XIL 
(sometimes called Dionysus), who was merely young and in- 
competent, they were all, almost equally, detestable. 

Ptolemy IV., who assumed the title of Philopator to disarm 
the suspicions which ascribed to him the death of his father, 
was the eldest son of Euergetes, and ascended the throne B.C. 
222. His first acts, after seating himself upon the throne, were 
the murder of his mother, Berenice, who had wished her 
younger son to obtain the succession ; of his brother, Magas ; 
and of his father's brother, Lysimachus. He followed up these 
outrages by quarrelling with the Spartan refugee Cleomenes, 
and driving him into a revolt, which cost him and his family 
their lives. He then contracted an incestuous marriage with 
his sister, Arsinoe, and abandoning the direction of afifairs to 
his minister, Sosibius, the adviser of these measures, gave 
himself up to a life of intemperance and profligacy. Agathoc- 
lea, a professional singer, and her brother, Agathocles, the 
children of a famous courtesan, became his favorites, and ruled 
the court, while Sosibius managed the kingdom. To gratify 
these minions of his pleasures, Philopator, about B.C. 208, 
put to death his wife, Arsinoe, after she had borne him an heir 
to the empire. 

The weakness of Philopator, and the mismanagement of the 
State by Sosibius, who was at once incapable and wicked, laid 
the empire open to attack; and it was not long before the 
young king of Syria, Antiochus HI., took advantage of the 
condition of affairs to advance his own pretensions to the pos- 
session of the long-disputed tract between Syria Proper and 
Egypt. It might have been expected that, under the circum- 
stances, he would have been successful. But the Egyptian 



ANCIENT HISTORY 203 

forces, relaxed though their discipUne had been by Sosibius, 
were still superior to the Syrians; and the battle of Raphia 
(B.C. 217) was a repetition of the lessons taught at Pelusium 
and Gaza. The invader was once more defeated upon the bor- 
ders, and by the peace which followed, the losses of the two 
preceding years were, with one exception, recovered. 

The Syrian war was only just brought to a close when dis- 
affection showed itself among Philopator's Egyptian subjects. 
The causes of their discontent are obscure ; and we are without 
any details as to the course of the struggle. But there is evi- 
dence that it lasted through a considerable number of years, 
and was only brought to a close after much effusion of blood 
on both sides. 

Notwithstanding his inhumanity and addiction to the worst 
forms of vice, Philopator so far observed the traditions of his 
house as to continue their patronage of letters. He lived on 
familiar terms with the men of learning who frequented his 
court, and especially distinguished with his favor the gram- 
marian Aristarchus. To show his admiration for Homer, he 
dedicated a temple to him. He further even engaged, himself, 
in literary pursuits, composing tragedies and poems of various 
kinds. 

Worn out prematurely by his excesses, Philopator died at 
about the age of forty, after he had held the throne for seven- 
teen years. He left behind him one only child, a son, named 
Ptolemy, the issue of his marriage with Arsinoe. This child, 
who at the time of his father's death was no more than five 
years old, was immediately acknowledged as king. He reigned 
from B.C. 205 to 181, and is distinguished in history by the 
surname of Epiphanes. The affairs of Egypt during his minor- 
ity were, at first, administered by the infamous Agathocles, 
who, however, soon fell a victim to the popular fury, together 
with his sister, his mother, and his whole family. The honest 
but incompetent Tlepolemus succeeded as regent ; but in the 
critical circumstances wherein Egypt was now placed by the 
league of Antiochus with Philip of Macedon (see Book IV.), 
it was felt that incompetency would be fatal ; and the impor- 
tant step was taken of calling in the assistance of the Romans, 
who sent M. Lepidus, B.C. 201, to undertake the management 



204 



RAWLINSON 



of affairs. Lepidus saved Egypt from conquest ; but was un- 
able, or unwilling, to obtain for her the restoration of the terri- 
tory whereof the two spoilers had deprived her by their com- 
bined attack. Antiochus succeeded in first deferring and then 
evading the restoration of his share of the spoil, while Philip 
did not even make a pretense of giving back a single foot of 
territory. Thus Egypt lost in this reign the whole of her for- 
eign possessions except Cyprus and the Cyrenaica — losses 
which were never recovered. 

Lepidus, on quitting Egypt, B.C. 199, handed over the ad- 
ministration to Aristomenes, the Acarnanian, a man of vigor 
and probity, who restored the finances, and put fresh life into 
the administration. But the external were followed by internal 
troubles. A revolt of the Egyptians, and a conspiracy on the 
part of the general, Scopas, showed the danger of a long mi- 
nority, and induced the new regent to curtail his own term of 
office. At the age of fourteen, Epiphanes was declared of full 
age, and assumed the reins of government, B.C. 196. 

But little is known of Epiphanes from the time of his as- 
suming the government. His marriage with Cleopatra, the 
daughter of Antiochus the Great, which had been arranged in 
B.C. 199 as a portion of the terms of peace, was not celebrated 
till B.C. 193, when he had attained the age of seventeen. 
Shortly after this the monarch appears to have quarrelled with 
his minister and late guardian, Aristomenes, whom he bar- 
barously removed by poison. A certain Polycrates then be- 
came his chief adviser and assisted him to quell a second very 
serious revolt on the part of the native Egyptians. Towards 
the close of his reign he formed designs for the recovery of 
Ccele-Syria and Palestine, which he proposed to wrest from 
Seleucus, who had succeeded his father, Antiochus. But be- 
fore he could carry his designs into effect, he was murdered 
by his officers, whom he had alarmed by an unguarded ex- 
pression, B.C. 181. 

By his marriage with Cleopatra, Epiphanes had become the 
father of three children, two sons, both of whom received the 
name of Ptolemy, and a daughter, called after her mother. The 
eldest of these children, who took the surname of Philometor, 
succeeded him, and reigned as Ptolemy VI. His age at his 



ANCIENT HISTORY 205 

accession was only seven, and during his early years he re- 
mained under the regency of his mother, whose administration 
was vigorous and successful. At her death, in B.C. 173, the 
young prince fell under far inferior guardianship — that of 
Eulaeus the eunuch and Lenseus, ministers at once corrupt and 
incapable. These weak men, mistaking audacity for vigor, 
rashly claimed from Antiochus Epiphanes the surrender of 
Coele-Syria and Palestine, the nominal dowry of the late queen- 
mother, and, when their demand was contemptuously rejected, 
flew to arms. Their invasion of Syria quickly brought upon 
them the vengeance of Antiochus, who defeated their forces 
at Pelusium, B.C. 170, and would certainly have conquered 
all Egypt, had it not been for the interposition of the Romans, 
who made him retire, and even deprived him of all his con- 
quests. 

By the timely aid thus given, Rome was brought into a new 
position with respect to Egypt. Hitherto she had merely been 
a friendly ally, receiving more favors than she conferred. 
Henceforth she was viewed as exercising a sort of protectorate ; 
and her right was recognized to interfere in the internal troubles 
of the kingdom, and to act as arbiter between rival princes. 
The claims of such persons were discussed before the Roman 
Senate, and the princes themselves went to Rome in person 
to plead their cause. The decision of the Senate was not, in- 
deed, always implicitly obeyed ; but still Rome exercised a 
most important influence from this time, not only over the 
external policy but over the dynastic squabbles of the 
Egyptians. 

The joint reign of the two kings, Philometor and Physcon, 
which commenced in B.C. 169, continued till B.C. 165, when 
the brothers quarrelled and Philometor was driven into exile. 
Having gone to Rome and implored assistance from the Sen- 
ate, he was re-instated in his kingdom by Roman deputies, 
who arranged a partition of the territory between the brothers, 
which might have closed the dispute, could Physcon have 
remained contented with his allotted portion. But his ambi- 
tion and intrigues caused fresh troubles, which were, however, 
quelled after a time by the final establishment of Physcon as 
king of Cyrene only. 



2o6 RAWLINSON 

During the continuance of the war between the two brothers, 
Demetrius I., who had become king of Syria, B.C. 162, had 
made an attempt to obtain possession of Cyprus by bribing 
the governor, and had thereby provoked the hostiHty of Philo- 
metor. No sooner, therefore, was Philometor free from do- 
mestic troubles than, resolving to revenge himself, he induced 
Alexander Balas to come forward as a pretender to the Syrian 
crown, and lent him the full weight of his support, even giving 
him his daughter, Cleopatra, in marriage, B.C. 150. But the 
ingratitude of Balas, after he had obtained the throne by Ptol- 
emy's aid, alienated his patron. The Egyptian king, having 
with some difficulty escaped a treacherous attempt upon his 
life, passed over to the side of the younger Demetrius, gave 
Cleopatra in marriage to him, and succeeded in seating him 
upon the throne. In the last battle, however, which was fought 
near Antioch, he was thrown from his horse, and lost his life, 
B.C. 146. 

Ptolemy Philometor left behind him three children, the issue 
of his marriage with his full sister, Cleopatra, viz., a son, Ptol- 
emy, -who was proclaimed king, under the name of Eupator 
(or Philopator, according to Lepsius), and two daughters, both 
called Cleopatra, the elder married first to Alexander Balas 
and then to Demetrius II., the younger still a virgin. Eupator, 
after reigning a few days, was deposed and then murdered by 
his uncle, Physcon, the king of Cyrene, who claimed and ob- 
tained the throne. 

Ptolemy Physcon, called also Euergetes II., acquired the 
throne in consequence of an arrangement mediated by the 
Romans, who stipulated that he should marry his sister Cleo- 
patra, the widow of his brother, Philometor. Having become 
king in this way, his first act was the murder of his nephew. 
He then proceeded to treat with the utmost severity all those 
who had taken part against him in the recent contest, killing 
some and banishing others. By these measures he created such' 
alarm, that Alexandria became half emptied of its inhabitants, 
and he was forced to invite new colonists to repeople it. Mean- 
while he gave himself up to gluttony and other vices, and be- 
came bloated to an extraordinary degree, and so corpulent that 
he could scarcely walk. He further repudiated Cleopatra, his 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



207 



sister, though she had borne him a son, Memphitis, and took 
to wife her daughter, called also Cleopatra, the child of his 
brother, Philometor. After a while his cruelties and excesses 
disgusted the Alexandrians, who broke out into frequent re- 
volts. Several of these were put down ; but at last Physcon 
was compelled to fly to Cyprus, and his sister Cleopatra was 
made queen, B.C. 130. 

On the re-establishment of Physcon in his kingdom, he 
resolved to revenge himself on Demetrius for the support 
which he had given to Cleopatra. He therefore brought for- 
ward the pretender Alexander Zabinas, and lent him such sup- 
port that he shortly became king of Syria, B.C. 126. But Za- 
binas, like his reputed father, Balas, proved ungrateful; and 
the offended Physcon proceeded to pull down the throne which 
he had erected, joining Antiochus Grypus against Zabinas, and 
giving him his daughter Tryph^na, in marriage. The result 
was the ruin of Zabinas, and the peaceful establishment of 
Grypus, with whom Physcon lived on friendly terms during 
the remainder of his life. 

Physcon died in B.C. 117, and was succeeded by his eldest 
son, Ptolemy IX., commonly distinguished by the epithet of 
Lathyrus. Egypt now lost the Cyrenaica, which was be- 
queathed by Physcon to his natural son, Apion, who at his 
death made it over to the Romans. The ties which bound 
Cyprus to Egypt also became relaxed, for Lathyrus, and his 
brother, Alexander, alternately held it, almost as a separate 
kingdom. The reign of Lathyrus, which commenced B.C. 
117, did not terminate till B.C. 81, thus covering a space of 
thirty-six years ; but during one-half of this time he was a 
fugitive from Egypt, ruling only over Cyprus, while his 
brother took his place at Alexandria. We must divide his 
reign into three periods — the first lasting from B.C. 117 to 
107, a space of ten years, during which he was nominal king 
of Egypt under the tutelage of his mother; the second, from 
B.C. 107 to 89, eighteen years, which he spent in Cyprus ; and 
the third, from B.C. 89 to 81, eight years, during which he 
ruled Egypt as actual and sole monarch. 

Lathyrus left behind him one legitimate child only, Berenice, 
his daughter by Selene, who succeeded him upon the throne. 



2o8 RAWLINSON 

and remained for six months sole monarch. She was then 
married to her first cousin, Ptolemy Alexander II., the son of 
Ptolemy Alexander I., who claimed the crown of Egypt under 
the patronage of the great Sulla. It was agreed that they 
should reign conjointly; but within three weeks of his mar- 
riage, Alexander put his wife to death. This act so enraged the 
Alexandrians that they rose in revolt against the murderer 
and slew him in the public gymnasium, B.C. 80. 

A time of trouble followed. The succession was disputed 
between two illegitimate sons of Lathyrus, two legitimate sons 
of Selene, the sister of Lathyrus, by Antiochus Eusebes, king 
of Syria, her third husband, and probably other claimants. 
Roman influence was wanted to decide the contest, and Rome 
for some reason or other hung back. A further disintegration 
of the empire was the consequence. The younger of the two 
sons of Ptolemy Lathyrus seized Cyprus, and made it a sep- 
arate kingdom. The elder seems to have possessed himself 
of a part of Egypt. Other parts of Egypt appear to have fallen 
into the power of a certain Alexander, called by some writers 
Ptolemy Alexander III.,'who was driven out after some years, 
and, flying to Tyre, died there and bequeathed Egypt to the 
Romans. 

Ultimately the whole of Egypt passed under the sway of the 
elder of the two illegitimate sons of Lathyrus, who took the 
titles of Neas Dionysos {" the New Bacchus "), Philopator, and 
Philadelphus, but was most commonly known as Auletes, the 
" Flute-player." The years of his reign were counted from 
B.C. 80, though he can scarcely have become king of all Egypt 
till fifteen years later, B.C. 65. It was his great object during 
the earlier portion of his reign to get himself acknowledged 
by the Romans ; but this he was not able to efifect till B.C. 59, 
the year of Caesar's consulship, when his bribes were eflfectual. 
But his orgies and his " fluting " had by this time disgusted 
the Alexandrians ; so that, when he increased the weight of 
taxation in order to replenish his treasury, exhausted by the 
vast sums he had spent in bribery, they rose against him, and 
after a short struggle, drove him from his kingdom. Auletes 
fled to Rome ; and the Alexandrians placed upon the throne 
his two daughters, Tryphaena and Berenice, of whom the for- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



209 



mer lived only a year, wliilc the latter retained the crown till 
the restoration of her father, B.C. 55. He returned under the 
protection of Pompey, who sent Gabinius at the head of a 
strong Roman force to reinstate him. The Alexandrians were 
compelled to submit ; and Auletes immediately executed Be- 
renice, who had endeavored to retain the crown and had resist- 
ed his return in arms, Auletes then reigned about three years 
and a half in tolerable peace, under the protection of a Roman 
garrison. He died B.C. 51, having done as much as in him 
lay to degrade and ruin his country. 

Ptolemy Auletes left behind him four children — Cleopatra, 
aged seventeen ; a boy, Ptolemy, aged thirteen ; another boy, 
called also Ptolemy ; and a girl, called Arsinoe. The last two 
were of very tender age. He left the crown, under approval 
of the Romans, to Cleopatra and the elder Ptolemy, who were 
to rule conjointly, and to be married when Ptolemy was of full 
age. These directions were carried out; but the imperious 
spirit of Cleopatra ill brooked any control, and it was not long 
ere she quarrelled with her boy-husband, and endeavored to 
deprive him of the kingdom. War followed ; and Cleopatra, 
driven to take refuge in Syria, was fortunate enough to secure 
the protection of Julius Caesar, whom she fascinated by her 
charms, B.C. 48. With his aid she obtained the victory over 
her brother, who perished in the struggle. Cleopatra was now 
established sole queen, B.C. 47, but on condition that she 
married in due time her other brother, the younger son of 
Auletes. Observing the letter of this agreement, Cleopatra 
violated its spirit by having her second husband, shortly after 
the wedding, removed by poison, B.C. 44. The remainder of 
'Cleopatra's reign was, almost to its close, prosperous. Pro- 
tected by Julius Csesar during his lifetime, she succeeded soon 
after his decease in fascinating Antony, B.C. 41, and making 
him her slave for the rest of his lifetime. The details of this 
period belong to Roman rather than to Egyptian history ; and 
will be treated in the last book of this Manual. It will be suffi- 
cient to note here that the latest descendant of the Ptolemies 
retained the royal title to the end, and showed something of the 
spirit of a queen in preferring death to captivity, and perishing 
upon the capture of her capital, B.C. 30. 
14 



2IO RAWLINSON 



Part III. 

History of Macedonia, and of Greece, from the Death of Alexander 
to the Roman Conquest, B. C. J2j to J 46. * 

Grecian history had been suspended during the time of Alex- 
ander's career of conquest. A sHght disturbance of the general 
tranquillity had indeed occurred, when Alexander plunged into 
the unknown countries beyond the Zagros range, by the move- 
ment against Antipater, which the Spartan king, Agis, orig- 
inated in B.C. 330. But the disturbance was soon quelled. 
Agis was defeated and slain ; and from this time the whole of 
Greece remained perfectly tranquil until the news came of Al- 
exander's premature demise during the summer of B.C. 323. 
Then, indeed, hope rose high ; and a great effort was made to 
burst the chains which bound Greece to the footstool of the 
Macedonian kings, Athens, under Demosthenes and Hyper- 
ides, taking, as was natural, the lead in the struggle for free- 
dom. A large confederacy was formed ; and the Lamian War 
was entered upon in the confident expectation that the effect 
would be the liberation of Greece from the yoke of her op- 
pressor. But the result disappointed these hopes. After a 
bright gleam of success, the confederate Greeks were com- 
pletely defeated at Crannon, B.C. 322, and the yoke of Mace- 
donia was riveted upon them more firmly than ever. 

The position of Antipater, as supreme ruler of Macedonia, 
was far from being safe and assured. The female members of 
the Macedonian royal family — Olympias, the widow of Philip ; 
Cleopatra, her daughter; Cynane, daughter of Philip by an 
Illyrian mother; and Eurydice, daughter of Cynane by her 

* Sources. The sources for this history are nearly the same as those 
which have been cited for the contemporary history of Syria and Egypt. 
The chief ancient authorities are Diodorus Siculus (books xix.-xxxii.. 
the first two of which only are complete), Polybius, Justin, Plutarch 
(" Vitx Demetrii, Pyrrhi, TEmilii Paulli, Agidis, Cleomenis, Arati, Phil- 
opoemonis et Flaminini"), and Livy (books xxvi.-xlv., and Epitomes of 
books xlvi.-lii.). To these may be added, for the Macedonian chronol- 
ogy, Eusebius (" Chronicorum Canonum liber prior," cxxxviii.), and 
for occasional facts in the history, Pausanias. 



MENTAL EDUCATION OF A GREEK YOUTH. 

Photogravure from a section of the original painting hv Otto Knille. 

In this section of Knille's painting Socrates and Plato are siiown surrounded 
h\ their friends and disciples. 



cT 



ANCIENT HISTORY 211 

husband Aniyntas (himself a first cousin of Alexander) — were, 
one and all, persons of ability and ambition, who saw with 
extreme dissatisfaction the aggrandizement of the generals of 
Alexander and the low condition into which the royal power 
had fallen, shared between an infant and an imbecile. Dissatis- 
fied, moreover, with their own positions and prospects, they 
conmienccd intrigues for the purpose of improving them. 
Olympias first offered the hand of Cleopatra to Leonnatus, 
who was to have turned against Antipater, if he had been suc- 
cessful in his Grecian expedition. When the death of Leon- 
natus frustrated this scheme, Olympias cast her eyes farther 
abroad, and fixed on Perdiccas as the chief to whom she would 
betroth her daughter. Meanwhile, Cynane boldly crossed over 
to Asia with Eurydice, and offered her in marriage to Philip 
Arrhid?eus, the nominal king. To gratify Olympias, who hated 
these members of the royal house, Perdiccas put Cynane to 
death ; and he would probably have likewise removed Eu- 
rydice, had not the soldiers, exasperated at the mother's mur- 
der, compelled him to allow the marriage of the daughter with 
Philip. Meanwhile, he consented to Olympias's schemes, pre- 
pared to repudiate his wife, Nicaea, the daughter of Antipater, 
and hoped with the aid of his friend, Eumenes, to make himself 
master of the whole of Alexander's empire. (See Second 
Period.) 

The designs of Perdiccas, and his intrigues with Olympias, 
having been discovered by Antigonus, and the life of that chief 
being in danger from Perdiccas in consequence, he fled to 
Europe in the course of B.C. 322, and informed Antipater and 
Craterus of their peril. Fully appreciating the importance of 
the intelligence, those leaders at once concluded a league with 
Ptolemy, and in the spring of B.C. 321 invaded Asia for the 
purpose of attacking their rival. Plere they found Eumenes 
prepared to resist them ; and so great was the ability of that 
general, that, though Perdiccas had led the greater portion of 
his forces against Egypt, he maintained the war successfully, 
defeating and killing Craterus, and holding Antipater in check. 
But the murder of Perdiccas by his troops, and their fraterni- 
zation with their opponents, changed the whole face of affairs. 
Antipater found himself, without an effort, master of the situa- 



212 RAWLINSON 

tion. Proclaimed sole regent by the soldiers, he took the cus- 
tody of the royal persons, re-distributed the satrapies (see 
Second Period), and, returning into Macedonia, held for about 
two years the first position in the empire. He was now, how- 
ever, an old man, and his late campaigns had probably shaken 
him ; at any rate, soon after his return to Europe, he died, B.C. 
318, leaving the regency to his brother ofBcer, the aged Polys- 
perchon. 

The disappointment of Cassander, the elder of the two sur- 
viving sons of Antipater, produced the second great war be- 
tween the generals of Alexander. Cassander, having begun 
to intrigue against Polysperchon, was driven from Macedonia 
by the regent, and, fllying to Antigonus, induced him to em- 
brace his cause. The league followed between Antigonus, 
Ptolemy, and Cassander on the one hand, and Polysperchon 
and Eumenes on the other (see Second Period), Antigonus 
imdertaking to contend with Eumenes in Asia, while Cassan- 
der afforded employment to Polysperchon in Europe. 

In the war which ensued between Cassander and Polys- 
perchon, the former proved eventually superior. Polysper- 
chon had on his side the influence of Olympias, which was 
great; and his proclamation of freedom to the Greeks was 
a judicious step, from which he derived considerable advan- 
tage. But neither as a soldier nor as a statesman was he Cas- 
sander's equal. He lost Athens by an imprudent delay, and 
failed against Megalopolis through want of military ability. 
His policy in allowing Olympias to gratify her hatreds with- 
out let or hindrance was ruinous to his cause, by thoroughly 
alienating the Macedonians. Cassander's triumph in B.C. 316 
reduced him to a secondary position, transferring the supreme 
authority in Macedonia to his rival. 

The reign of Cassander over Macedonia, which now com- 
menced, lasted from B.C. 316 to 296, a period of twenty years. 
The talents of this prince are unquestionable, but his moral 
conduct fell below that of even the majority of his contempo- 
raries, which was sufficiently reprehensible. His bad faith 
towards Olympias was followed, within a few years, by the 
murders of Roxana and the infant Alexander, by complicity in 
the murder of Hercules, the illegitimate son of Alexander the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 213 

Great, and by treachery towards Polysperchon, who was first 
seduced into crime and then defrauded of his reward. Cas- 
sander, however, was a clever statesman, a good general, and a 
brave soldier. His first step on obtaining possession of Mace- 
donia was to marry Thessalonice, the sister of Alexander the 
Great, and thus to connect himself with the family of the con- 
queror. Next, fearing the ambition of Antigonus, who, af- 
ter his victory over Eumenes, aspired to rule the whole em- 
pire (see Second Period), he entered into the league of the 
satraps against that powerful commander, and bore his part in 
the great war, which, commencing B.C. 315, on the return of 
Antigonus from the East, terminated B.C. 301, at the battle of 
Ipsus. In this war Cassander, though he displayed unceasing 
activity, and much ability for intrigue, was on the whole unsuc- 
cessful ; and he would probably have lost Greece and Mace- 
donia to his powerful adversary, had not the advance of Seleu- 
cus from Babylon and the defeat of Antigonus at Ipsus saved 
him. 

Cassander did not live long to enjoy the tranquillity which 
the defeat and death of Antigonus at Ipsus brought him. He 
died B.C. 298, three years after Ipsus, leaving the crown to the 
eldest of his three sons by Thessalonice, Philip. This prince 
was carried oflf by sickness before he had reigned a year ; and the 
Macedonian dominions at his death fell to Thessalonice, his 
mother, who made a division of them between her two sur- 
viving sons, Antipater and Alexander, assigning to the latter 
Western, and to the former Eastern Macedonia. 

Antipater, who regarded himself as wronged in the partition, 
having wreaked his vengeance on his mother by causing her to 
be assassinated, applied for aid to his wife's father, Lysima- 
chus ; while Alexander, fearing his brother's designs, called in 
the help of Pyrrhus the Epirote and of Demetrius, B.C. 297. 
Demetrius, after the defeat of Ipsus, had still contrived to main- 
tain the position of a sovereign. Rejected at first by Athens, 
he had besieged and taken that city, had recovered possession 
of Attica, the Megarid, and great portions of the Peloponnese, 
and had thus possessed himself of a considerable power. Ap- 
pealed to by Alexander, he professed to embrace his cause ; but 
ere long he took advantage of his position to murder the young 



214 RAWLINSON 

prince, and possess himself of his kingdom. Antipater was 
about the same time put to death by Lysimachus, B.C. 294. 

The kingdom of Demetrius comprised, not only Macedonia, 
but Thessaly, Attica, Megaris, and the greater part of the Pelo- 
ponnese. Had he been content with these territories, he might 
have remained quietly in the possession of them, for the fam- 
ilies of Alexander the Great and of Antipater were extinct, 
and the connection of Demetrius with Seleucus, who had mar- 
ried his daughter (see Third Period, Part I.), would have 
rendered his neighbors cautious of meddling with him. But 
the ambition of Demetrius was insatiate, and his self-confidence 
unbounded. After establishing his authority in Central 
Greece and twice taking Thebes, he made an unprovoked at- 
tack upon Pyrrhus, B.C. 290, from whom he desired to wrest 
some provinces ceded to him by the late king, Alexander. In 
this attempt he completely failed, whereupon he formed a new 
project. Collecting a vast army, he let it be understood that 
he claimed the entire dominion of his father, Antigonus, and 
was about to proceed to its recovery, B.C. 288. Seleucus and 
Lysimachus, whom this project threatened, were induced, in 
consequence, to encourage Pyrrhus to carry his arms into 
Macedonia on the one side, while Lysimachus himself invaded 
it on the other. Placed thus between two fires, and finding at 
the same time that his soldiers were not to be depended upon, 
Demetrius, in B.C. 287, relinquished the Macedonian throne, 
and escaped secretly to Demetrias, the city which he had built 
on the Pagasean Gulf and had made a sort of capital. From 
hence he proceeded on the expedition, which cost him his lib- 
erty, against Asia. (See Third Period, Part I.) 

On the flight of Demetrius, Pyrrhus of Epirus became king 
of the greater part of Macedonia ; but a share of the spoil was 
at once claimed by Lysimachus, who received the tract adjoin- 
ing his own territories. A mere share, however, did not long 
satisfy the Macedonian chieftain. Finding that the rule of an 
Epirotic prince was distasteful to the Macedonians, he con- 
trived after a little while to pick a quarrel with his recent ally, 
and having invaded his Macedonian territories, forced him to 
relinquish them and retire to his own country, after a reign 
which lasted less than a year. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



215 



By the success of Lysimachus, Macedonia became a mere 
appendage to a large kingdom, which reached from the Halys 
to the Pindus range, its centre being Thrace, and its capital 
Lysimacheia in the Chersonese. These circumstances might 
not by themselves have alienated the Macedonians, though 
they could scarcely have failed after a time to arouse discon- 
tent ; but when Lysimachus, after suffering jealousy and dis- 
sension to carry ruin into his own family, proceeded to acts of 
tyranny and violence towards his nobles and other subjects, 
these last called on Seleucus Nicator to interfere for their pres- 
ervation ; and that monarch, having invaded the territories of 
his neighbor, defeated him in the battle of Corupedion, where 
Lysimachus, fighting with his usual gallantry, was not only 
beaten but slain. 

By the victory of Corupedion, Seleucus Nicator became 
master of the entire kingdom of Lysimachus, and, with the ex- 
ception of Egypt, appeared to have reunited almost the whole 
of the dominions of Alexander. But this union was short- 
lived. Within a few weeks of his victory, Seleucus was mur- 
dered by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the Egyptian refugee whom he 
had protected ; and the Macedonians, indifferent by whom they 
were ruled, accepted the Egyptian prince without a murmur. 

The short reign of Ptolemy Ceraunus (B.C. 281 to 279) was 
stained by crimes and marked by many imprudences. Re- 
garding the two sons of Lysimachus by Arsinoe, his half-sister, 
as possible rivals, he persuaded her into a marriage, in order to 
get her children into his power ; and, having prevailed with the 
credulous princess, first murdered her sons before her eyes, and 
then banished her to Samothrace. Escaping to Egypt, she 
became the wife of her brother, Philadelphus, and would prob- 
ably have induced him to avenge her wrongs, had not the 
crime of Ceraunus received its just punishment in another way. 
A great invasion of the Gauls — one of those vast waves of mi- 
gration which from time to time sweep over the world — oc- 
curring just as Ceraunus felt himself in secure possession of 
his kingdom, disturbed his ease, and called for wise and vigor- 
ous measures of resistance. Ceraunus met the crisis with suf- 
ficient courage, but with a complete absence of prudent coun- 
sel. Instead of organizing a united resistance to a common 



2i6 RAWLINSON 

enemy, or conciliating a foe whom he was too weak to oppose 
singly, he both exasperated the Gauls by a contemptuous mes- 
sage and refused the profTers of assistance which he received 
from his neighbors. Opposing the unaided force of Macedon 
to their furious onset, he was completely defeated in a great 
battle, B.C. 279, and, falling into the hands of his enemies, was 
barbarously put to death. The Gauls then ravaged Mace- 
donia far and wide ; nor was it till B.C. 277 that Macedonia once 
more obtained a settled government. 

On the retirement of the Gauls, Antipater, the nephew of 
Cassander, came forward for the second time, and was accepted 
as king by a portion, at any rate, of the Macedonians. But a 
new pretender soon appeared upon the scene. Antigonus 
Gonatas, the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had main- 
tained himself since that monarch's captivity as an independent 
prince in Central or Southern Hellas, claimed the throne once 
filled by his father, and, having taken into his service a body of 
Gallic mercenaries, defeated Antipater and made himself mas- 
ter of Macedonia. His pretensions being disputed by Anti- 
ochus Soter, the son of Seleucus, who had succeeded to the 
throne of Syria, he engaged in war with that prince, crossing 
into Asia and uniting his forces with those of Nicomedes, the 
Bithynian king, whom Antiochus was endeavoring to conquer. 
To this combination Antiochus was forced to yield ; reliquish- 
ing his claims, he gave his sister, Phila, in marriage to Antigo- 
nus, and recognized him as king of Macedonia. Antigonus 
upon this fully established his power, repulsing a fresh attack 
of the Gauls, and recovering Cassandreia from the cruel tyrant, 
Apollodorus. 

But he was not long left in repose. In B.C. 274, Pyrrhus 
finally quitted Italy, having failed in all his schemes, but having 
made himself a great reputation. Landing in Epirus with a 
scanty force, he found the condition of Macedonia and of 
Greece favorable to his ambition. Antigonus had no hold on 
the afifections of his subjects, whose recollections of his father, 
Demetrius, were unpleasing. The Greek cities were, some of 
them, under tyrants, others occupied against their will by 
Macedonian garrisons. Above all, Greece and Macedonia 
were full of military adventurers, ready to flock to any stand- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 217 

ard which offered them a fair prospect of plunder. Pyrrhus, 
therefore, having taken a body of Celts into his pay, declared 
war against Antigonus, B.C. 273, and suddenly invaded Mace- 
donia. Antigonus gave him battle, but was worsted owing to 
the disaffection of his soldiers, and, being twice defeated, be- 
came a fugitive and a wanderer. 

The victories of Pyrrhus, and his son Ptolemy, placed the 
Macedonian crown upon the brow of the former, who might 
not improbably have become the founder of a great power, if 
he could have turned his attention to consolidation, instead of 
looking out for fresh conquests. But the arts and employ- 
ments of peace had no charm for the Epirotic knight-errant. 
Hardly was he settled in his seat, when, upon the invitation of 
Cleonymus of Sparta, he led an expedition into the Pelopon- 
nese, and attempted the conquest of that rough and difficult 
region. Repulsed from Sparta, which he had hoped to sur- 
prise, he sought to cover his disappointment by the capture of 
Argos ; but here he was still more unsuccessful. Antigonus, 
now once more at the head of an army, watched the city, pre- 
pared to dispute its occupation, while the lately threatened 
Spartans hung upon the invader's rear. In a desperate at- 
tempt to seize the place by night, the adventurous Epirote was 
first wounded by a soldier and then slain by the blow of a tile, 
thrown from a house-top by an Argive woman, B.C. 271. 

On the death of Pyrrhus the Macedonian throne was recov- 
ered by Antigonus, who commenced his second reign by es- 
tablishing his influence over most of the Peloponnese, after 
which he was engaged in a long war with the Athenians (B.C. 
268 to 263), who were supported by Sparta and by Egypt. 
These allies rendered, however, but little help ; and Athens 
must have soon succumbed, had not Antigonus been called 
away to Macedonia by the invasion of Alexander, son of Pyr- 
rhus. This enterprising prince carried, at first, all before him, 
and was even acknowledged as Macedonian king; but ere 
long, Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, having defeated Alex- 
ander near Derdia, re-established his father's dominion over 
Macedon, and, invading Epirus, succeeded in driving the Epi- 
rotic monarch out of his paternal kingdom. The Epirots soon 
restored him ; but from this time he remained at peace with 



2i8 RAWLINSON 

Antigonus, who was able once more to devote his undivided 
attention to the subjugation of the Greeks. In B.C. 263, he 
took Athens, and rendered himself complete master of Attica ; 
and, in B.C. 244, nineteen years afterwards, he contrived by a 
treacherous stratagem to obtain possession of Corinth. But 
at this point his successes ceased. A power had been quietly 
growing up in a corner of the Peloponnese which was to be- 
come a counterpoise to Macedonia, and to give to the closing 
scenes of Grecian history an interest little inferior to that which 
had belonged to its earlier pages. The Achaean League, re- 
suscitated from its ashes about the time of the invasion of the 
Gauls, B.C. 280, had acquired in the space of thirty-seven years 
sufficient strength and consistency to venture on defying the 
puissant king of Macedon and braving his extreme displeas- 
ure. In B.C. 243, Aratus, the general of the League and in a 
certain sense its founder, by a sudden and well-planned attack 
surprised and took Corinth ; which immediately joined the 
League, whereto it owed its freedom. This success was fol- 
lowed by others. Megara, Troezen, and Epidaurus threw off 
their allegiance to Antigonus and attached themselves to the 
League in the course of the same year. Athens and Argos 
were threatened ; and the League assumed an attitude of un- 
mistakable antagonism to the power and pretensions of Mace- 
don. Antigonus, grown timorous in his old age, met the bold 
aggressions of the League with no overt acts of hostility. Con- 
tenting himself with inciting the ^tolians to attack the new 
power, he remained wholly on the defensive, neither attempt- 
ing to recover the lost towns, nor to retaliate by any invasion 
of Achasa. 

Antigonus Gonatas died B.C. 239, at the age of eighty, hav- 
ing reigned in all thirty-seven years. He left his crown to his 
son, Demetrius II., who inherited his ambition without his 
talents. The first acts of Demetrius were to form a close 
alliance with Epirus, now under the rule of Olympias, Alexan- 
der's widow ; to accept the hand of her daughter Phthia, where- 
by he oflfended his queen, Stratonice, and through her Seleu- 
cus, the Syrian king ; and to break with the ^tolians, who were 
seeking at this time to deprive Olympias of a portion of her 
dominions. The vEtolians, alarmed, sought the alHance of the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 219 

Achaean League; and in the war which followed, Demetrius 
was opposed by both these important powers. He contrived, 
however, to defeat Aratus in Thessaly, to reduce Boeotia, and 
to re-establish Macedonian ascendancy as far as the Isthmus. 
But this was all that he could effect. No impression was made 
by his arms on either of the great Leagues. No aid was given 
to Epirus, where the royal family was shortly afterwards ex- 
terminated. Demetrius was perhaps recalled to Macedonia 
by the aggressive attitude of the Dardanians, who certainly at- 
tacked him in his later years, and gave him a severe defeat. 
It is thought by some that he perished in the battle. But this 
is uncertain. 

The most important fact of this period was the interference, 
now for the first time, of the Romans in the affairs of Greece. 
The embassy to the ^tolians, warning them against interfer- 
ence with Acarnania, belongs probably to the year B.C. 238; 
that to the ^tolians and Achaeans announcing the success of 
the Roman arms against the Illyrians, belongs certainly to B.C. 
228. In the same year, or the year preceding, Corcyra, Apol- 
lonia, and Epidamnus became Roman dependencies. 

Demetrius left an only son, Philip, who was but eight years 
old at his decease. He was at once acknowledged king; but 
owing to his tender age, his guardianship was undertaken by 
his kinsman, Antigonus, the son of his father's first cousin, De- 
metrius, " the Handsome." It was, consequently, this prince 
who directed the policy of Macedonia during the period which 
immediately followed on the death of Demetrius II. — who, in 
fact, ruled Macedonia for nine years, from B.C. 229 to 220. 
The events of this period are of first-rate interest, including, 
as they do, the last display of patriotism and vigor at Sparta, 
and the remarkable turn of affairs whereby Macedonia, from 
being the deadly foe of the Achaean League, became its friend, 
ally, and protector. 

The other wars of Antigonus Doson were comparatively 
unimportant. He repulsed an attack of the Dardanians, who 
had defeated his predecessor, suppressed an insurrection in 
Thessaly, and made an expedition by sea against South-west- 
ern Asia Minor, which is said to have resulted in the conquest 
of Caria. It was impossible, however, that he should long hold 



220 RAWLINSON 

this distant dependency, which shortly reverted to Egypt, the 
chief maritime power of this period. Soon after his return 
from Greece, Antigonus died of disease, having held the sover- 
eignty for the space of nine years. He was succeeded by the 
rightful heir to the throne, Philip, the son of Demetrius II., 
in whose name he had carried on the government. 

Philip, who was still no more than seventeen years old, was 
left by his kinsman to the care of tutors and guardians. He 
seemed to ascend the throne at a favorable moment, when 
Macedonia, at very little expenditure of either men or money, 
had recovered Greece, had repulsed her lUyrian adversaries, 
and was released, by the death of Ptolemy Euergetes, from 
her most formidable enemy among the successors of Alexan- 
der. But all these advantages were neutralized by the rash 
conduct of the king himself, who first allied himself with Han- 
nibal against Rome, and then with Antiochus against Egypt. 
No doubt Philip saw, more clearly than most of his contempo- 
raries, the dangerously aggressive character of the Roman 
power ; nor can we blame him for seeking to form coalitions 
against the conquering republic. But, before venturing to 
make Rome his enemv, he should have consolidated his power 
at home; and, when he made the venture, he should have 
been content with no half measures, but should have thrown 
himself, heart and soul, into the quarrel. 

The first war in which the young prince engaged was one 
that had broken out between the Achseans and ^tolians. The 
^tolians, who now for the first time show themselves a really 
first-rate Greek power, had been gradually growing in impor- 
tance, from the time when they provoked the special anger of 
Antipater in the Lamian War, and were threatened with trans- 
plantation into Asia. Somewhat earlier than this they had 
organized themselves into a Federal Republic, and had thus set 
the example which the Achseans followed half a century after- 
wards. Some account of their institutions, and of the extent 
of their power, is requisite for the proper understanding both 
of their strength and of their weakness. 

The war of the /Etolians and Achseans was provoked by 
the former, who thought they saw in the accession of so young 
a prince as Philip to the throne of Macedon a favorable oppor- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 221 

tunity for advancing their interests after their own pecuHar 
method. It commenced with the invasion of Messenia, and 
would probably have been ruinous to Achaea, had Philip al- 
lowed himself to be detained in Macedonia by apprehensions 
of danger from his Illyrian neighbors, or had he shown less 
vigor and ability in his proceedings after he entered Greece. 
Though thwarted by the treachery of his minister and guard- 
ian, Apelles, who was jealous of the influence of Aratus, and 
but little aided by any of his Greek allies, he gained a series 
of brilliant successes, overrunning most of ^tolia, capturing 
Thermon, the capital, detaching from the League Phigaleia in 
Arcadia and the Phthian Thebes, and showing himself in all 
respects a worthy successor of the old Macedonian conquerors. 
But after four years of this successful warfare, he allowed him- 
self to be diverted from what should have been his first object, 
the complete reduction of Greece, by the prospect which 
opened upon him after Hannibal's victory at Lake Thrasimene. 
At the instance of Demetrius of Pharos he concluded a peace 
with the ^tolians on the principle of iiti possedctis, and, retiring 
into Macedonia, entered upon those negotiations which in- 
volved him shortly afterwards in a war with Rome. 

The negotiations opened by Philip with Hannibal, B.C. 216, 
interrupted by the capture of his ambassadors, were brought 
to a successful issue in B.C. 215 ; and in the ensuing year Philip 
began his first war with Rome by the siege of Apollonia, the 
chief Roman port in lUyricum. By securing this place, he ex- 
pected to facilitate the invasion of Italy on which he was bent, 
and to prepare the way for that complete expulsion of the 
Romans from the eastern coast of the gulf, which was one of 
the objects he had most at heart. But he soon learned that the 
Romans were an enemy with whom, under any circumstances 
whatever, it was dangerous to contend. Defeated by M. Vale- 
rius, who surprised his camp at night, he was obliged to burn 
his ships and make a hasty retreat. His schemes of invasion 
were rudely overthrown; and, three years later, B.C. 211, the 
Romans, by concluding a treaty with ^tolia and her allies 
(Elis, Sparta, the Illyrian chief, Scerdilaidas, and Attains, king 
of Pergamus), gave the war a new character, transferring it 
into Philip's own dominions, and so occupying him there that 



222 RAWLINSON 

he was forced to implore aid from Carthage instead of bringing 
succor to Hannibal. After many changes of fortune, the Mace- 
donian monarch, having by the hands of his ally, Philopoemen, 
defeated the Spartans at Mantineia, induced the yEtolians to 
conclude a separate peace; after which the Romans, anxious 
to concentrate all their energies on the war with Carthage, 
consented to a treaty on terms not dishonorable to either 
party. 

Philip had now a breathing-space, and might have employed 
it to consolidate his power in Macedonia and Greece, before 
the storm broke upon him which was manifestly impending. 
But his ambition was too great, and his views were too grand, 
to allow of his engaging in a work so humble and unexciting 
as consolidation. The Macedonian monarch had by this time 
disappointed all his earlier promise of virtue and moderation. 
He had grown profligate in morals, criminal in his acts, both 
public and private, and strangely reckless in his policy. Grasp- 
ing after a vast empire, he neglected to secure what he already 
possessed, and, while enlarging the bounds, he diminished the 
real strength of his kingdom. It became now his object to 
extend his dominion on the side of Asia, and with this view he 
first (about B.C. 205) concluded a treaty with Antiochus the 
Great for the partition of the territories of Egypt, and then 
(B.C. 203) plunged into a war with Attalus and the Rhodians. 
His own share of the Egyptian spoils was to comprise Lysi- 
macheia and the adjoining parts of Thrace, Samos, Ephesus, 
Caria, and perhaps other portions of Asia Minor. He began 
at once to take possession of these places. A war with Attalus 
and Rhodes was almost the necessary result of such proceed- 
ings, since their existence depended on the maintenance of a 
balance of power in these parts, and the instinct of self-preser- 
vation naturally threw them on the Egyptian side. Philip, 
moreover, took no steps to disarm their hostility : on the con- 
trary, before war was declared, he burnt the arsenal of the 
Rhodians by the hands of an emissary ; and in the war itself, 
one of his opening acts was to strengthen Prusias, the enemy 
of Attalus, by making over to him the ^tolian dependency, 
Cius. The main event of the war was the great defeat of his 
fleet by the combined squadrons of the two powers ofi Chios, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 223 

B.C. 201, a dcfcal ill compensated by the subsequent victory of 
Lade. Still Philip was, on the whole, successful, and accom- 
plished the main objects which he had in view, making himself 
master of Thasos, Samos, Chios, of Caria, and of many places 
in Ionia. Unassisted by Egypt, the allies were too weak to 
protect her territory, and Philip obtained the extension of do- 
minion which he had desired, but at the cost of provoking the 
intense hostility of two powerful naval states, and the ill-will 
of yEtolia, which he had injured by his conquest of Cius. 

These proceedings of Philip in the yEgean had, moreover, 
been well calculated to bring about a rupture of the peace with 
Rome. Friendly relations had existed between the Romans 
and Egypt from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and even 
from an earlier date Rhodes and Rome had been on terms 
of intimacy. Attains was an actual ally of Rome, and had 
been included in the late treaty. It is therefore not surprising 
that in B.C. 200 Rome remonstrated, and, when Philip rejected 
every demand, declared the peace at an end and renewed the 
war. 

The Second War of Philip with Rome is the turning-point 
in the history of Ancient Europe, deciding, as it did, the ques- 
tion whether Macedon and Rome should continue two parallel 
forces, dividing between them the general direction of Euro- 
pean afifairs, or whether the power of the former should be 
completely swept away, and the dominion of the latter over the 
civilized West finally and firmly established. It is perhaps 
doubtful what the result would have been, if Philip had guided 
his conduct by the commonest rules of prudence ; if, aware 
of the nature of the conflict into which he was about to be 
plunged, he had conciliated instead of alienating his natural 
supports, and had so been able to meet Rome at the head of 
a general confederacy of the Hellenes. As it was, Greece was 
at first divided, the Rhodians, Athenians, and Athamanians 
siding with Rome ; ^tolia, Epirus, Achaea, and Sparta being 
neutral ; and Thessaly, Boeotia, Acarnania, Megalopolis, and 
Argos supporting Philip ; while in the latter part of the war, 
after Flamininus had proclaimed himself the champion of Gre- 
cian freedom, almost the entire force of Hellas was thrown on 
the side of the Romans. Rome had also the alliance of the 



224 RAWLINSON 

111) rian tribes, always hostile to their Macedonian neighbors, 
and of Attains, king of Pergamus. Philip was left at last with- 
out a friend or ally, excepting Acarnania, which exhibited the 
unusual spectacle of a grateful nation firmly adhering to its 
benefactor in his adversity. 

The terms of peace agreed to by Philip after the battle of 
Cynocephalae were the following : — He was to evacuate all the 
Greek cities which he held, whether in Europe or Asia, some 
immediately, the others within a given time. He was to sur- 
render his state-galley and all his navy except five light ships. 
He was to restore all the Roman prisoners and deserters ; and 
he was to pay to the Romans looo talents, 500 at once, the rest 
in ten annual installments. He was also to abstain from all 
aggressive war, and to surrender any claim to his revolted 
province, Orestis. These terms, though hard, were as favor- 
able as he had any right to expect. Had the ^tolians been 
allowed to have their way, he would have been far more se- 
verely treated. 

The policy of Rome in proclaiming freedom to the Greeks, 
and even withdrawing her garrisons from the great fortresses 
of Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth — the " fetters of Greece " 
— was undoubtedly sound. Greek freedom could not be main- 
tained excepting under her protection ; and, by undertaking 
the protectorate, she attached the bulk of the Greek people to 
her cause. At the same time, the establishment of universal 
freedom prevented any state from having much power; and 
in the quarrels that were sure to ensue Rome would find her 
advantage. 

War broke out in Greece in the very year of Flamininus's 
departure, B.C. 194, by the intrigues of the ^tolians, who en- 
couraged Nabis to attack the Achseans, then murdered Nabis, 
and finally invited Antiochus over from Asia. The defeat of 
Antiochus at Thermopylae, B.C. 191, left the ^tolians to bear 
the brunt of the war which they had provoked, and after the 
battle of Magnesia, B.C. 190, there was nothing left for them 
but complete submission. Rome curtailed their territory, and 
made them subject-allies, but forbore to crush them utterly, 
since they might still be useful against Macedonia. 

The degradation of .^^tolia was favorable to the growth and 



ANCIENT HISTORY 225 

advancement of the Achaean League, which at one and the 
same time was patronized by Rome, and seemed to patriotic 
Greeks the only remaining rallying-point for a national party. 
The League at this time was under the guidance of the able 
and honest Philopoemen, whose efforts for its extension were 
crowned with remarkable success. After the murder of Nabis 
by the ^tolians, Sparta was induced to join the League, B.C. 
192; and, a year later, the last of the Peloponnesian states 
which had remained separate, Messene and Elis, came in. The 
League now reached its widest territorial extent, comprising 
all the Peloponnese, together with Megara and other places 
beyond its limits. 

After the conclusion of his peace with Rome, Philip for some 
years remained quiet. But having assisted the Romans in their 
struggle with Antiochus and the ^Etolians, he was allowed to 
extend his dominions by wars not only with Thrace, but also 
with the Dolopians, Athamanians, and even the Thessalians 
and Magnesians. When, however, his assistance was no 
longer needed, Rome required him to give up all his con- 
quests and retire within the limit of Macedonia. Prolonged 
negotiations followed, until at last (B.C. 183) the Senate was 
induced to relax in their demands by the mediation of De- 
metrius, Philip's second son, long a hostage at Rome, for 
whom they professed to have a warm regard. The favor 
openly shown towards this prince by the Roman government 
was not perhaps intended to injure him ; but it naturally had 
that result. It aroused the suspicion of his father and the jeal- 
ousy of his elder brother, Perseus, and led to the series of ac- 
cusations against the innocent youth, which at length induced 
his father to consent to his death, B.C. 181. It may have been 
remorse for his hasty act which brought Philip himself to the 
grave within two years of his son's decease, at the age of fifty- 
eight. 

It is said that Philip had intended, on discovering the inno- 
cence of Demetrius, and the guilt of his false accuser, Perseus, 
to debar the latter from the succession. He brought forward 
into public life a certain Antigonus, a nephew of Antigonus 
Doson, and would, it is believed, have made him his heir, had 
he not died both prematurely and suddenly. Antigonus be- 
15 



226 RAWLINSON 

ing absent from the court, Perseus mounted the throne without 
opposition ; but he took care to secure himself in its possession 
by soon afterwards murdering his rival. 

It had been the aim of Philip, ever since the battle of Cyno- 
cephalae, and it continued to be the aim of Perseus, to maintain 
the peace with Rome as long as might be feasible, but at the 
same time to invigorate and strengthen Macedonia in every 
possible way, and so to prepare her for a second struggle, 
which it was hoped might terminate differently from the first. 
Philip repopulated his exhausted provinces by transplantations 
of Thracians and others, recruited his finances by careful work- 
ing of the mineral treasures in which Macedonia abounded, 
raised and disciplined a large military force, and entered into 
alliances with several of the Northern nations, Illyrian, Celtic, 
and perhaps even German, whom he hoped to launch against 
Rome, when the proper time should arrive. Perseus, inherit- 
ing this policy, pursued it diligently for eight years, allying 
himself by intermarriages with Prusias of Bithynia and Seleu- 
cus of Syria, winning to his cause Cotys the Odrysian, Gentius 
the Illyrian, the Scordisci, the Bastarnae, and others. Even in 
Greece he had a considerable party, who thought his yoke 
would be more tolerable than that of Rome. Boeotia actually 
entered into his alliance ; and the other states mostly wavered 
and might have been won, had proper measures been taken. 
But as the danger of a rupture drew near, Perseus's good 
genius seemed to forsake him. He continued to pursue the 
policy of procrastination long after the time had arrived for 
vigorous and prompt action. He allowed Rome to crush his 
friends in Greece without reaching out a hand to their assist- 
ance. Above all, by a foolish and ill-timed niggardliness, he 
lost the advantage of almost all the alliances which he had con- 
tracted, disgusting and alienating his allies, one after another, 
by the refusal of his subsidies which they required before set- 
ting their troops in^ motion. He thus derived no benefit from 
his well-filled treasury, which simply went to swell the Roman 
gains at the end of the war. 

The Romans landed in Epirus in the spring of B.C. 171, and 
employed themselves for some months in detaching from Per- 
seus his allies, and in putting down his party in the Greek 



ANCIENT HISTORY 227 

States. They dissolved the Boeotian League, secured the elec- 
tion of their partisans in various places, and obtained promises 
of aid from Achaea and Thessaly. Perseus allowed himself to 
be entrapped into making a truce during these months, and the 
Romans were thus able to complete their preparations at their 
leisure. At length, towards autumn, both armies took the 
field — Perseus with 39,000 foot and 4000 horse, the Romans 
with an equal number of horse, but with foot not much ex- 
ceeding 30,000. In the first battle, which was fought in Thes- 
saly, Perseus was victorious ; but he made no use of his victory, 
except to sue for peace, which was denied him. The war then 
languished for two years ; but in B.C. 168, the command being 
taken by L. ^milius Paullus, Perseus was forced to an engage- 
ment near Pydna (June 22), which decided the fate of the mon- 
archy. The defeated prince fled to Samothrace, carrying with 
him 6000 talents — a sum the judicious expenditure of which 
might have turned the scale against the Romans. Here he 
was shortly afterwards captured by the praetor Octavius, and, 
being carried to Rome by the victorious consul, was led in 
triumph, and within a few years killed by ill usage, about B.C. 
166. 

The conquered kingdom of Macedonia was not at once re- 
duced into the form of a Roman province, but was divided tifi 
into four distinct states, each of them, it would seem, a kind of 
federal republic, which were expressly forbidden to have any 
dealings one with another. Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, 
and Pelagonia were made the capitals of the four states. To 
prevent any outburst of discontent at the loss of political status, 
the burdens hitherto laid upon the people were lightened. 
Rome was content to receive in tribute from the Macedonians 
one-half the amount which they had been in the habit of pay- 
ing to their kings. 

In Greece, the immediate efifect of the last Macedonian War 
was the disappearance of four out of the five Federal Unions, 
which had recently divided almost the whole of the Hellenic 
soil among them. The allegiance of TEtolia had wavered dur- 
ing the struggle ; and at its close the Romans either formally 
dissolved the League, or made it simply municipal. Acar- 
nania, which went over to Rome in the course of the war, was 



228 RAWLINSON 

nominally allowed to continue a confederacy, but practically 
vanishes from Grecian history from this moment. Boeotia 
having submitted, B.C. 171, was formally broken up into dis- 
tinct cities. Epirus was punished for deserting the Roman 
side by desolation and depopulation, the remnant of her people 
being handed over to the rule of a tyrant. The only power 
remaining in Greece which possessed at once some strength 
and a remnant of independence, was Achsea, whose fidelity to 
Rome during the whole course of the war made it impossible 
even for the Roman Senate to proceed at once to treat her as 
an enemy. 

Achaea, nevertheless, was doomed from the moment that 
Macedonia fell. The policy of Rome was at this time not 
guided by a sense of honor, but wholly by a regard for her own 
interests. Having crushed Macedonia and mastered all 
Greece except Achaea, she required for the completion of her 
work in this quarter that Achsea should either become wholly 
submissive to her will, or be conquered. It was at once to test 
the submissiveness of the Achaean people, and to obtain host- 
ages for their continued good behavior, that Rome, in B.C. 
167, required by her ambassadors the trial of above a thousand 
of the chief Achaeans on the charge of having secretly aided 
Perseus ; and, when the Achaean Assembly did not dare to re- 
fuse, carried ofif to Italy the whole of the accused persons. All 
the more moderate and independent of the Achaeans were thus 
deported, and the strong partisans of Rome, Callicrates and 
his friends, were left in sole possession of the government. 
For seventeen years the accused persons were kept in prison in 
Etruscan towns without a hearing. Then, when their number 
had dwindled to three hundred, and their unjust detention had 
so exasperated them that a rash and reckless policy might be 
expected from their return to power, Rome suddenly released 
the remnant and sent them back to their country. 

The natural consequences followed. Power fell into the 
hands of Diseus, Critolaus, and Damocritus, three of the exiles 
who were most bitterly enraged against Rome ; and these per- 
sons played into the hands of their hated enemies by exciting 
troubles intended to annoy the Romans, but which really gave 
them the pretext — which was exactly what they wanted — for 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



229 



an armed interference. The rebellion of Andrisciis, a pretended 
son of Perseus, in Macedonia (B.C. 149 to 148), caused a brief 
delay ; but in B.C. 146, four years after the return of the exiles, 
war was actually declared. Metellus first, and then Mummius, 
defeated the forces of the League ; Critolaiis fell in battle ; 
Diaeus slew himself ; Corinth, where the remnant of the Achae- 
an army had taken refuge, was taken and sacked, and the last 
faint spark of Grecian independence was extinguished. Achaea 
was not, indeed, at once reduced into a province ; and, though 
the League was formally dissolved, yet, after an interval, its 
nominal revival was permitted ; but the substance of liberty had 
vanished at the battle of Leucopetra, and the image of it which 
Polybius was allowed to restore was a mere shadow^ known by 
both parties to be illusory. Before many years were past, 
Achaea received, like the other provinces, her proconsul, and 
became an integral part of the great empire against which she 
had found it vain to attempt to struggle. 



Part IV. 

History of the Smaller States and Kingdoms formed out of the 
Fragments of Alexander* s Monarchy.'^ 

Besides the three main kingdoms of Syria, Egypt, and Mace- 
donia, which were formed out of the great empire of Alexander, 
there arose in the East at this time, partly out of Alexander's 
dominions, partly out of unconquered portions of the Persian 
territory, a number of independent lesser states, mostly mon- 
archies, which played an important part in Oriental history 

* Sources. Besides most of the ancient writers mentioned above as 
authorities for the history of the Syrian, Egyptian, and Macedonian 
kingdoms, the following are of vakte: — The fragments of Memnon of 
Heracleia Pontica, published in the " Fragmenta Historicorum Grae- 
corum " of C. Miiller. Paris, 1849; vol. iii. The " Parthica " of Arrian, 
contained in the " Bibliotheca " of Photius (ed. Bekker. Berolini, 1824; 
2 vols. 4to). The great work of the Jewish historian Fl. Josephus, 
entitled " Antiquitatum Judaicarum libri xx." (ed. K. E. Richter. Lip- 
siae, 1825-7; 4 vols. 8vo). Ammianus Marcellinus, " Historia Ro- 
mana " (ed. Wagner et Erfurdt. Lipsice, 1808; 3 vols. 8vo). And, 
especially for the Jewish history, the "Books of Maccabees." 



230 



RAWLINSON 



during the decline of the Macedonian and the rise of the Ro- 
man power, and of which therefore some account must be 
given in a work Hke the present. The principal of these were, 
first, in Asia Minor, Pergamus, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontus 
and Cappadocia ; secondly, in the region adjoining, Greater 
and Lesser Armenia ; thirdly, in the remoter East, Bactria and 
Parthia ; and, fourthly, in the tract between Syria and Egypt, 
Judaea. 

Our information on the subject of these kingdoms is very 
scanty. No ancient writer gives us any continuous or sep- 
arate history of any of them. It is only so far as they become 
implicated in the affairs of the greater kingdoms that they at- 
tract the ancient writers' attention. Their history is thus very 
incomplete, and sometimes quite fragmentary. Much, how- 
ever, has been done towards making out a continuous nar- 
rative, in some cases, by a skilful combination of scattered 
notices, and a judicious use of the knowledge derived from 
coins. 

Kingdom of Pergamus. 

In Western Asia the most important of the lesser kingdoms 
was that of Pergamus, which arose in the course of the war 
waged between Seleucus Nicator and Lysimachus. Small and 
insignificant at its origin, this kingdom gradually grew into 
power and importance by the combined military genius and 
prudence of its princes, who had the skill to side always with 
the stronger party. By assisting Syria against the revolted 
satrap Achseus, and Rome against Macedon and Syria, the 
kings of Pergamus gradually enlarged their dominion, tmtil 
they were at length masters of fully half Asia Minor. At the 
same time, they had the good taste to encourage art and 
literature, and to render the capital of their kingdom a sort of 
rival to Alexandria. They adorned Pergamus with noble 
buildings, the remains of which may be seen at the present day. ' 
They warmly fostered the kindred arts of painting and sculpt- 
ure. To advance literature, they established an extensive 
public library, and attracted to their capital a considerable 
number of learned men. A grammatical and critical school 
grew up at Pergamus only second to the Alexandrian ; and the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



231 



Eg3-ptian papyrus was outdone, as a literary material, by the 
charta Pcrgavicna (parchment). 

The founder of the kingdom was a certain Philetaerus, a 
eunuch, whom Lysimachus had made governor of the place 
and guardian of his treasures. On the death of Lysimachus 
at the battle of Corupedion, Philetaerus maintained possession 
of the fortress on his own account, and, by a judicious employ- 
ment of the wealth whereof he had become possessed, in the 
hire of mercenaries and otherwise, he succeeded in establishing 
his independence, and even in transmitting his principality and 
treasure to his nephew, Eumenes, the son of Eumenes, his 
brother. 

Eumenes I., the successor of Philetaerus, was attacked, very 
shortly after his succession, by Antiochus I., the son and suc- 
cessor of Seleucus, but defeated him in a pitched battle near 
Sardis, and obtained an increase of territory by his victory. 
He reigned twenty-two years, and died from the effects of over- 
drinking, B.C. 241, bequeathing Pergamus to his first cousin, 
Attains — the son of his father's brother. Attains, by Antiochis, 
the daughter of Achseus. 

Attains I. distinguished himself early in his reign (about 
B.C. 239) by a great victory over the Gauls, who had been now 
for above thirty years settled in Northern Phrygia (Galatia), 
whence they made continual plundering raids upon their neigh- 
bors. On obtaining this success, he for the first time assumed 
the title of " king," having previously, like his two predeces- 
sors, borne only that of " dynast." From this time we hear 
nothing of him for the space of about ten years, when we find 
him engaged in a war with Antiochus Hierax, the brother of 
Seleucus Callinicus, who was endeavoring to make himself 
king of Asia Minor. Having defeated this ambitious prince, 
and driven him out of Asia, Attains succeeded in vastly en- 
larging his own dominions, which, about B.C. 226, included 
most of the countries west of the Halys and north of Taurus. 
But the Syrian monarchs were not inclined to submit to this 
loss of territory. First Seleucus Ceraunus (B.C. 226), and 
then Antiochus the Great, by his general Achasus (B.C. 223), 
made war upon Attains, and by the year B.C. 221 his con- 
quests were all lost, and his dominions once more reduced to 



232 



RAWLINSON 



the mere Pergamene principality. But in B.C. 218 the tide 
again turned. By the help of Galhc mercenaries Attalus re- 
covered yEoHs ; and two years later he made a treaty with An- 
tiochus the Great against Achaeus, who had been driven into 
revolt, which led to his receiving back from Antiochus, after 
Achseus's defeat and death, B.C. 214, most of the territory 
whereof he had been deprived seven years previously. Three 
years after this, B.C. 211, by joining the ^Etolians and Romans 
against Philip, he laid the foundation of the latter prosperity of 
his kingdom, which depended on its enjoying the favor and 
patronage of Rome. In vain Philip, after peace had been 
made, B.C. 204, turned upon Attalus, invading and ravaging 
his territory, and endeavoring to sweep his fleet from the sea. 
Attalus, in alliance with Rhodes, proved more than a match 
for this antagonist ; and the battle of Chios, B.C. 201, avenged 
the desolation of Pergamus. In the second war between 
Rome and Philip, B.C. 199, the Pergamene monarch, though 
he was seventy years of age, took again an active part, sup- 
porting the Romans with his fleet, and giving them very valu- 
able aid. But the exertion proved too much for his physical 
strength : he was seized with illness as he pleaded the cause of 
Rome in an assembly of the Boeotians, B.C. 197, and, having 
been conveyed to Pergamus, died there in the course of the 
same year. He left behind him four sons by his wife Apol- 
lonias, viz., Eumenes, Attalus, Philetserus, and Athenaeus. 

Eumenes II., the eldest of the sons of Attalus, succeeded him. 
He was a prudent and warlike prince, the inheritor at once of 
his father's talents and his policy. In the wars which Rome 
waged with Philip, with Antiochus, and with Perseus, he threw 
his weight on the Roman side, only on one occasion showing 
some slight symptoms of wavering, when in B.C. 169 he held 
some separate correspondence with Perseus. In return for the 
aid which he furnished against Antiochus, Rome, after the bat- 
tle of Magnesia, made over to him the greater part of the ter- 
ritory whereof she had deprived the Syrian king. Not only 
were Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, Pamphylia, and por- 
tions of Caria and Lycia, acknowledged now by the authority 
of Rome to be integral parts of the kingdom of Pergamus, but 
even the Chersonese, with its capital Lysimacheia, and the ad- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 233 

jacent parts of Thrace, were attached to it. The Pergamene 
monarchy became in this way one of the greatest kingdoms of 
the East ; and in the war which followed with Prusias of Bi- 
thynia, B.C. 183, it was still further enlarged by the addition 
of the Hellespontine Phrygia. In those waged with Phar- 
naces of Pontus, B.C. 183 to 179, and with the Gauls, about 
B.C. 168, it was, however, the object of Eumenes to maintain, 
rather than to enlarge, his boundaries. Towards the close of 
his long reign he seems to have become suspicious of the in- 
creasing power of the Romans, and to have been inclined to 
counteract their influence, so far as he dared. Hence the Ro- 
mans distrusted him, and were disposed to support against him 
his brother Attains, who was more thoroughly attached to their 
interests. It was perhaps fortunate for Eumenes that he died 
when he did : otherwise, he might have had to contend for the 
possession of his kingdom with his own brother, supported by 
all the power of Rome. 

Though Eumenes left behind him a son, called Attains, yet, 
as this Attains was a mere boy, the crown was assumed by his 
uncle. Attains, who took the surname of Philadelphus. Phila- 
delphus reigned twenty-one years, from B.C. 159 to 138. In 
the earlier part of his reign he was actively engaged in various 
wars, restoring Ariarathes to his kingdom, about B.C. 157, 
helping Alexander Bala against Demetrius, B.C. 152, assisting 
the Romans to crush Andriscus, the pseudo-Philip, B.C. 149 to 
148, and, above all, engaging in a prolonged contest with 
Prusias II., who would undoubtedly have conquered him and 
annexed Pergamus to Bithynia, if Attains had not called in the 
aid of Ariarathes of Cappadocia and Mithridates of Pontus, 
and also that of the Romans. The threats of Rome forced 
Prusias to abstain, and even to compensate Attains for his 
losses. Attains, nevertheless, was glad when, B.C. 149, an op- 
portunity ofifered itself of exchanging Prusias for a more peace- 
ful and friendly neighbor. With this view he supported Nico- 
medes in his rebellion against his father, and helped to establish 
him in his kingdom. A quiet time followed, which Attains de- 
voted to the strengthening of his power by the building of new 
cities, and to the encouragement of literature and art. Be- 
coming infirm as he approached his eightieth year, he devolved 



234 RAWLINSON 

the cares of the government on his minister, Philopoemen, who 
became the real ruler of the country. Finally, at the age of 
eighty-two, Philadelphus died, leaving the crown to his 
nephew and ward. Attains, the son of Eumenes II., who must 
have been now about thirty years old. 

Attains III., the son of Eumenes II., on ascending the throne 
took the name of Philometor, in honor of his mother, Strato- 
nice, the daughter of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. He 
reigned five years only, from B.C. 138 to 133; yet into this 
short space he crowded more crimes and odious actions than 
are ascribed to all the other kings of his house put together. 
He condemned to death without trial all the old counsellors 
and friends of his father and uncle, and at the same time de- 
stroyed their families. He then caused to be assassinated al- 
most all those who held any office of trust in the kingdom. 
Finally, he turned against his own relations, and even put to 
death his mother, for whom he had professed a warm affection. 
At length remorse seized him, and he abandoned the cares of 
state, devoting himself to painting, sculpture, and gardening, 
on which last subject he wrote a work. He died of a fever, 
brought on, it is said, by a sun-stroke ; and, by a will as strange 
as his conduct, left the Roman People his heir. 

Rome readily accepted the legacy; but Aristonicus, a bas- 
tard son of Eumenes II., boldly disputed the prize with them, 
claiming the kingdom as his natural inheritance. He com- 
pelled the cities to acknowledge him, which had at first refused 
through fear of the Romans ; and when Licinius Crassus was 
sent to take forcible possession of the country, Aristonicus de- 
feated him, and took him prisoner, B.C. 131. In the year fol- 
lowing, however, Aristonicus was himself defeated and made 
prisoner by Peperna; and the kingdom of Pergamus became 
shortly afterwards a Roman province. 

Kingdom of Bithyjiia. 

Though Bithynia was conquered by Croesus, and submitted 
readily to Cyrus, when he absorbed the Lydian empire into 
his own dominions, yet we find, somewhat early in the Persian 
period, that the country is governed by native kings, who are 



ANCIENT HISTORY 235 

not unfrequently at war with the satraps of Asia Minor. The 
first of these semi-independent monarchs is Dydalsus, who 
must have been contemporary with the earher part of the 
Peloponnesian War. He was succeeded by Boteiras, probably 
the opponent of Pharnabazus (about B.C. 400), who left the 
crown to his son, Bas, B.C. 376. This king, the last under 
the Persians, held the throne for the long term of fifty years, 
and thus saw the commencement of the new state of things 
under the Macedonians. 

With the dissolution of the Persian empire, which Alexan- 
der's conquests brought about, Bithynia acquired complete 
independence. Bas successfully resisted the attempts which 
Alexander made by his general Carantus (Caranus?) to re- 
duce him, and at his death, in B.C. 326, he left to his son, 
Zipoetes, a flourishing and wholly autonomous kingdom. 

Zipoetes, the son and successor of Bas, successfully main- 
tained the independence, which he had inherited, against the 
attacks of Lysimachus and Antiochus Soter, while he threat- 
ened the Greek cities in his neighborhood, Heracleia Pontica, 
Astacus, and Chalcedon. He reigned forty-eight years, from 
B.C. 326 to B.C. 278, and left behind him four sons, Nico- 
medes, Zipoetes, and two others. 

It would seem that, at the death of Zipoetes, a dispute con- 
cerning the succession arose between two of his sons. The 
eldest of them, Nicomedes, finding himself in danger of losing 
the kingdom to Zipoetes, his younger brother, invited the 
Gauls to cross over from Europe to his assistance, and by their 
aid defeated his brother and fully established his authority. 
He repelled by the same aid an attack on his independence 
made by Antiochus I. Nothing more is known of Nicomedes, 
except that he founded Nicomedeia on the Gulf of Astacus, 
and that he married two wives, Ditizele and Etazeta, by the 
former of whom he had a single son, Zeilas, while by the latter 
he had three children, Prusias, Tiboetes, and Lysandra, to 
whom, for their mother's sake, he desired to leave his kingdom. 

Zeilas, who was living as an exile in Armenia, having ob- 
tained the services of a band of Gauls, entered Bithynia, and 
established his authority by a war in which he frequently de- 
feated the partisans of his half-brothers. Very little is known 



236 



RAWLINSON 



of his history; but we may gather from some passages that 
he carried on successful wars with Paphlagonia and Cappa- 
docia, in both of which countries he founded cities. He reigned 
about twenty years, and finally perished in an attempt which 
he made to destroy by treachery a number of Gallic chiefs at 
a banquet. He was succeeded by his son, Prusias. 

Prusias L, known as " Prusias the Lame," ascended the 
throne probably about B.C. 228, and held it at least forty-five 
years. The earlier years of his reign were uneventful ; but, 
from about B.C. 220 nearly to his death, he was engaged in 
a series of important wars, and brought into contact with some 
of the chief powers of Asia and Europe. By his unceasing en- 
ergy he extended his dominions in several directions, and 
would have raised Bithynia into one of the most important of 
the Asiatic kingdoms, had he not unfortunately given ofifence 
to the Romans, first, by attacking their ally, Eumenes of Per- 
gamus, and, secondly, by sheltering Hannibal. Not content 
with extorting the consent of Prusias to the surrender of the 
Carthaginian refugee, who was thereby driven to put an end 
to his own life, Rome, under the threat of war, compelled the 
Bithynian monarch to cede to Eumenes the whole of the Hel- 
lespontine Phrygia. He compensated himself to some extent 
by attacking Heracleia Pontica; but here he received the 
wound from which he derived his surname of " the Lame," 
and shortly after this he died, leaving the crown to a son called, 
Hke himself, Prusias. 

Prusias H., the son and successor of Prusias L, was the most 
wicked and contemptible of the Bithynian monarchs. Though 
he had married, at his own request, the sister of the Macedo- 
nian king, Perseus, yet, when that monarch was attacked by the 
Romans, he lent him no aid, only venturing once, B.C. 169, 
to intercede for his brother-in-law by an embassy. When vic- 
tory declared itself on the Roman side, he made the most abject 
submission, and thus obtained the assent of Rome to his reten- 
tion of his kingdom. Like his father, he lived on bad terms 
with Eumenes ; and, when that king died and was succeeded 
by Attalus H., he ventured to begin a war, B.C. 156, which 
would certainly have been successful, had the Romans ab- 
stained from interference. They, however, by threats induced 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



237 



Prusias to consent to a peace, by which he rcHnquished the 
fruits of his victories, and even engaged to pay to Attalus the 
sum of 500 talents. Meanwhile, he had alienated the affections 
of his subjects by his cruelties and impieties, while Nicomedes, 
his son, had conciliated their regard. Viewing, therefore, his 
son as a rival, Prusias first sent him to Rome, and then gave 
orders that he should be assassinated. But his emissary be- 
trayed him ; and Nicomedes, learning his danger, with the con- 
nivance of the Senate, quitted Rome and returned as a pre- 
tender to his own country. There, being openly supported 
by Attalus, and known to have the good wishes of the Romans, 
he was received with general favor ; and, having besieged his 
father in Nicomedeia, obtained possession of his person and 
put him to death, B.C. 149. 

Nicomedes II., who now mounted the throne, followed the 
example of the Syrian and Egyptian kings in assuming the 
title of " Epiphanes," or " Illustrious." He reigned fifty-eight 
years, from B.C. 149 to 91, and took an active part in the wars 
which at this time desolated Asia Minor. It was his object to 
stand well with the Romans, and hence he willingly sent a con- 
tingent to their aid when they warred with Aristonicus of Per- 
gamus, B.C. 133 to 130, and, professedly at any rate, rendered 
obedience to the various commands which they addressed to 
him. Still he made several attempts, all of them more or less 
displeasing to Rome, at increasing the power and extent of his 
kingdom. In B.C. 102 he attacked Paphlagonia in combi- 
nation with Mithridates the Great, and took possession of 
a portion of it. Required by Rome to restore his conquest 
to the legitimate heir, he handed it over to one of his own 
sons, whom he pretended to be a Paphlagonian prince, and 
made him take the name of Pylaemenes. Shortly afterwards, 
B.C. 96, when Mithridates endeavored to annex Cappadocia, 
and Laodice, the widow of the late king, fled to him, he mar- 
ried her, and, warmly espousing her cause, established her as 
queen in Cappadocia ; whence, however, she was shortly ex- 
pelled by Mithridates. Finally, in B.C. 93, after the deaths of 
the two sons of Laodice, he brought forward an impostor, who 
claimed to be also her son, and endeavored to obtain for him 
the crown of Cappadocia. Here, however, he overreached 



238 RAWLINSON 

himself. The imposture was detected ; and Rome not only 
refused to admit the title of his protege to the Cappadocian 
crown, but required him likewise to abandon possession of 
Paphlagonia, which was to be restored to independence. Soon 
after this, the long reign of Nicomedes II. came to an end. 
His age at his decease cannot have been much less than eighty. 
Nicomedes II. left behind him two sons, Nicomedes and 
Socrates, who was surnamed " the Good " {Xprjo-Tos:). Nico- 
medes, who was the elder of the two, succeeded, and is known as 
Nicomedes III. He took the titles of " Epiphanes " and " Phil- 
opator." Scarcely was he seated on the throne when, at the 
instigation of Mithridates, his brother Socrates, accusing him 
of illegitimacy, claimed the kingdom, and, with the aid of an 
army which Mithridates furnished, drove Nicomedes out, and 
assumed the crown. Rome, however, in the next year, B.C. 90, 
by a simple decree reinstated Nicomedes, who proceeded, in 
B.C. 89, to retaliate upon Mithridates by plundering incursions 
into his territories. Thus provoked, Mithridates, in B.C. 88, 
collected a vast army, defeated Nicomedes on the Amneius, 
and drove him with his Roman allies out of Asia. The first 
Mithridatic War followed ; and at its close, in B.C. 84, Nico- 
medes was restored to his kingdom for the second time, and had 
a tranquil reign after this for the space of ten years. Dying 
without issue, in B.C. 74, he left by will his kingdom to the 
Romans — a legacy which brought about the third and greatest 
" Mithridatic War." 

Kingdom of Paphlagonia. 

Like Bithynia, Paphlagonia became semi-independent under 
the Achaemenian monarchs. As early as B.C. 400, the rulers 
of the country are said to have paid very little regard to the 
Great King's orders ; and in B.C. 394 we find the monarch, 
Cotys, allying himself with Agesilaiis against Persia. Thirty 
or forty years later another king is mentioned as reduced by 
the Persian satrap, Datames. On the dissolution of the Persian 
empire, Paphlagonia was attached to his dominions by Mithri- 
dates of Pontus, and it continued for a considerable time to be 
a portion of the Pontic kingdom. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



239 



The circumstances under which, and the time when, Paphla- 
gonia regained its independence, are unknown to us ; but, soon 
after B.C. 200, we iind the throne once more occupied by native 
monarchs, who are entangled in the wars of the period. Tliese 
princes have a diflficulty in maintaining themselves against the 
monarchs of Pontus on the one hand, and those of Bithynia on 
the other; but they nevertheless hold the throne till B.C. 102, 
when, the last native king, Pylaemenes I., dying without issue, 
Mithridates the Great and Nicomedes II. conjointly seize the 
country, and the latter establishes on the throne one of his own 
sons, who rules for about eight years, when Mithridates expels 
him and takes possession of the whole territory. 

Kingdom of Pontus. 

The satrapy of Cappadocia appears to have been conferred 
by Darius Hystaspis as an hereditary fief on Otanes, one of 
the seven conspirators, who was descended from the ancient 
Arian kings of Cappadocia. It continued to form a single prov- 
ince of the empire, and to be governed by satraps descended 
from Otanes, till the year B.C. 363, when Ariobarzanes, the 
son of the Mithridates who was satrap in the time of Xeno- 
phon, rebelled, and made himself king of the portion of Cappa- 
docia which lay along the coast, and which was thence called 
" Pontus " by the Greeks. Inland Cappadocia continued to 
be a province of Persia. Ariobarzanes reigned twenty-six 
years, from B.C. 363 to 337, when he was succeeded by his son, 
Mithridates I. (commonly called Mithridates II.), who held the 
kingdom at the time of the Macedonian invasion. 

Mithridates I., who ascended the throne B.C. 337, seems to 
have remained neutral during the contest between Darius 
Codomannus and Alexander. On the reduction of Cappadocia 
by Perdiccas, B.C. 322, he was, however, compelled to submit 
to the Macedonians, after which he enjoyed for a time the favor 
of Antigonus and helped him in his wars. But Antigonus, 
growing jealous of him, basely plotted his death ; whereupon 
he returned to Pontus and resumed a separate sovereignty, 
about B.C. 318. In B.C. 317 he supported Eumenes against 
Antigonus ; and in B.C. 302 he was about to join the league 



240 RAWLINSON 

of the satraps against the same monarch, when Antigonus, 
suspecting his intention, caused him to be assassinated. 

Mithridates II., the son of Mithridates I., succeeded. He 
added considerably to his hereditary dominions by the acquisi- 
tion of parts of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia, and even vent- 
ured to conclude an alliance with the Greeks of Heracleia 
Pontica, B.C. 281, whom he undertook to defend against 
Seleucus. According to Diodorus, he reigned thirty-six years, 
from B.C. 302 to 266. He left the crown to his son, Ario- 
barzanes. 

Ariobarzanes II., who appears to have reigned about twenty- 
one years, from B.C. 266 to 245, did little to distinguish him- 
self. He repulsed an attack of Ptolemy (Euergetes?) by the 
assistance of the Gauls, but afterwards quarrelled with that 
fickle people, whose close neighborhood was very injurious to 
his kingdom. He also obtained possession of the town of 
Amastris upon the Euxine, which was surrendered to him by 
Eumenes, its dynast. On his death he was succeeded by his 
son, Mithridates, who was a minor. 

Mithridates III., the most distinguished of the earlier Pontic 
monarchs, made it his object to strengthen and augment his 
kingdom by alliances with the other monarchs and princes of 
Asia, rather than by warfare. As soon as he had attained to 
manhood, he married a sister of Seleucus Callinicus, with whom 
he received the province of Phrygia as a dowry. In B.C. 222, 
he gave his daughter, Laodice, in marriage to Antiochus the 
Great, the son of Callinicus, and at the same time married an- 
other daughter, called also Laodice, to Achseus, the cousin of 
Antiochus. He did not allow these connections, however, to 
fetter his political action. In the war between Seleucus Cal- 
linicus and Antiochus Hierax, he sided with the latter, and on 
one occasion he inflicted a most severe defeat upon his brother- 
in-law, who lost 20,000 men. In B.C. 220, he turned his arms 
against the Greeks of Sinope, but this town, which was assisted 
by the Rhodians, appears to have maintained itself against his 
efforts. It is uncertain how long Mithridates III. reigned, 
but the conjecture is reasonable that he died about B.C. 190. 

He was succeeded on the throne by his son, Pharnaces, who 
conquered Sinope, and made it the royal residence, about B.C. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 241 

183. This king soon afterwards involved himself in a war with 
Eumenes of Pergamus, of whose greatly augmented power 
he had naturally become jealous. Rome endeavored to hinder 
hostilities from breaking out, but in B.C. 181 Pharnaces took 
the field, overran Paphlagonia, expelling the king, Morzes or 
Morzias, and poured his troops into Cappadocia and Galatia. 
At first, he met with considerable success; but after a while 
the tide turned, and in B.C. 179 he was glad to make peace on 
condition of giving up all his conquests except the town of 
Sinope. After this we hear nothing more of him ; but he seems 
to have lived some considerable time longer, probably till 
about B.C. 160. 

Pharnaces I. was succeeded by his son, Mithridates, who 
took the name of " Euergetes," and reigned about forty years, 
from near B.C. 160 to 120. He entered into alliance with At- 
tains II., king of Pergamus, and lent him important assistance 
in his wars with Prusias II. of Bithynia, B.C. 154. A few years 
later he made alliance with Rome, and sent a contingent to 
bear a part in the Third Punic War, B.C. 150 to 146. He like- 
wise assisted Rome in the war against Aristonicus, B.C. 131, 
and at its close received the Greater Phrygia as the reward of 
his services. His end was tragical. About B.C. 120, his own 
immediate attendants conspired against him, and assassinated 
him at Sinope, where he held his court. 

Mithridates, the elder of his two sons, succeeded, and took 
the title of " Eupator," for which, however, modern historians 
have generally substituted the more high-sounding epithet of 
" the Great." He was undoubtedly the most able of all the 
Pontic kings, and will bear comparison with any of the Asiatic 
monarchs since Darius Hystaspis. Ascending the throne 
while he was still a minor, and intrusted to guardians whom he 
suspected, it was not till about B.C. 112 that he could under- 
take any important enterprise. But the interval of about eight 
years was well employed in the training of his own mind and 
body — the former by the study of languages, whereof he is 
said to have spoken twenty-five ; the latter by perpetual hunt- 
ing expeditions in the roughest and most remote regions. On 
reaching the age of twenty, and assuming the conduct of af- 
fairs, he seems to have realized at once the danger of his posi- 
16 



242 RAWLINSON 

tion as ruler of a petty kingdom, which must, by its position 
upon her borders, be almost immediately attacked by Rome, 
and could not be expected to make any effectual resistance. 
Already, during his minority, the grasping republic had seized 
his province of Phrygia ; and this was felt to be merely a fore- 
taste of the indignities and injuries with which, so long as he 
was weak, he would have to put up. Mithridates therefore 
determined, not unwisely, to seek to strengthen his kingdom, 
and to raise it into a condition in which it might be a match for 
Rome. With this object, in B.C. 112, he boldly started forth 
on a career of Eastern conquest. Here Rome could not inter- 
fere with him ; and in the space of about seven years he had 
added to his dominions the Lesser Armenia, Colchis, the entire 
eastern coast of the Black Sea, the Chersonesus Taurica, or 
kingdom of the Bosporus (the modern Crimea), and even the 
whole tract westward from that point to the Tyras, or Dniester. 
Having thus enlarged his dominions, and having further 
strengthened himself by alliances with the wild tribes on the 
Danube, Getas, Sarmatse, and others, whom he hoped one day 
to launch upon Italy, he returned to Asia Minor, and com- 
menced a series of intrigues and intermarriages, calculated to 
give him greater power in this quarter. 

Although it must have been evident, both to the Romans and 
to Mithridates, that peace between them could not be main- 
tained much longer, yet neither party was as yet prepared for 
an actual rupture. The hands of Rome were tied by the con- 
dition of Italy, where the " Social War " impended ; and Mith- 
ridates regarded it as prudent to temporize a little longer. He 
therefore submitted, in B.C. 92, to the decree of the Roman 
Senate, which assigned Cappadocia to a native monarch, Ario- 
barzanes, and in B.C. 90 to another decree which reinstated 
Nicomedes on the throne of Bithynia. When, however, in the 
following year, Nicomedes, encouraged by the Romans, pro- 
ceeded to invade the Pontic kingdom, and the demand which 
Mithridates made for redress produced no result, it seemed to 
him that the time was come when he must change his policy, 
and, laying aside all pretence of friendliness, commence the 
actual struggle. 

The disasters suffered by Mithridates in the Roman War 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



243 



encouraged the nations which he had subjected in the East 
to revolt. The kingdom of the Bosporus threw off its alle- 
giance, the Colchians rebelled, and other nations in the same 
quarter showed symptoms of disaffection. Mithridates pro- 
ceeded to collect a large fleet and army for the reduction of 
the rebels, when his enterprise had to be relinquished on ac- 
count of a second and wholly unprovoked Roman War. Mu- 
rena, the Roman commander in Asia, suddenly attacked him, 
almost without a pretext, B.C. 83 ; and it was not till the close 
of the following year that peace was re-established. 

The conclusion of the Second Roman War allowed Mithri- 
dates to complete the reduction of his revolted subjects, which 
he accomplished without much difficulty between the years 
B.C. 81 and 74. He suffered, however, during this interval, 
some heavy losses in an attempt which he made to subdue the 
Achseans of the Caucasus. But it was not so much in wars 
as in preparations for war that the Pontic monarch employed 
the breathing-space allowed him by the Romans after the fail- 
ure of the attack of Murena. Vast efforts were made by him 
to collect and discipline a formidable army ; troops were gath- 
ered from all quarters, even from the banks of the Danube ; the 
Roman arms and training were adopted ; fresh alliances were 
concluded or attempted ; the fleet w^as raised to the number of 
400 triremes; nothing was left undone that care or energy 
could accomplish towards the construction of a power which 
might fairly hope to hold its own when the time for a final trial 
of strength with Rome should arrive. 

The armed truce might have continued some years longer, 
for Mithridates still hoped to increase his power, and Rome was 
occupied by the war in Spain against the rebel Sertorius, had 
not the death of Nicomedes III., king of Bithynia, in B.C. 74, 
brought about a crisis. That monarch, having no issue, fol- 
lowed the example of Attains, king of Pergamus, in leaving his 
dominions by will to the Roman people. Had Mithridates 
allowed Rome to take possession, the Pontic kingdom would 
have been laid open to attack along the whole of its western 
border ; Rome would have been brought within five days' 
march of Sinope ; and thus the position of Pontus, when war 
broke out, would have been greatly weakened. Mithridates 



244 RAWLINSON 

therefore resolved to seize Bithynia before Rome could occupy 
it. But this act was equivalent to a declaration of war, since 
the honor of the great republic could not allow of her tamely 
submitting to the seizure of what she regarded as her own 
property. 

The Third War of Mithridates with Rome, which broke out 
in B.C. 74, was protracted to B.C. 65, and thus lasted nearly 
nine years. The scene of the war was Asia. Its result was 
scarcely doubtful from the first, for the Asiatic levies of Mith- 
ridates, though armed after the Roman fashion and disciplined 
to a certain extent, were no match for the trained veterans of 
the Roman legions. The protraction of the war was owing, 
in the first place, to the genius and energy of the Pontic mon- 
arch, who created army after army, and who gradually learnt 
the wisdom of avoiding pitched battles, and wasting the power 
of the enemy by cutting off his supplies, falling on his detach- 
ments, entangling him in difficult ground, and otherwise har- 
assing and annoying him. It was further owing to the par- 
ticipation in it of a new foe, Tigranes, who brought to the aid 
of his neighbor and connection a force exceeding his own, 
and very considerable resources. Rome was barely capable 
of contending at one and the same time with two such king- 
doms as those of Pontus and Armenia ; and up to the close of 
B.C. 67, though her generals had gained many signal victories, 
she had made no great impression on either of her two adver- 
saries. The war, if conducted without any change of plan, 
might still have continued for another decade of years, before 
the power of resistance possessed by the two kings would have 
been exhausted. But the genius of Pompey devised a scheme 
by which an immediate and decisive result was made attain- 
able. His treaty with Phraates, king of Parthia, brought a new 
power into the field — a power fully capable of turning the bal- 
ance in favor of the side whereto it attached itself. The atti- 
tude of Phraates at the opening of the campaign of B.C. 66 
paralyzed Tigranes ; and the Pontic monarch, deprived of the 
succors on which he had hitherto greatly depended, though he 
still resisted, and even fought a battle against his new antago- 
nist, was completely and manifestly overmatched. Defeated 
near the Armenian border by the Romans under Pompey, and 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



245 



forbidden to seek a refuge in Armenia by his timid and sus- 
picious brother-in-law, he had no choice but to yield his home 
dominions to the victor, and to retire to those remote terri- 
tories of which he had become possessed by conquest. Even 
Pompey shrank from following his beaten foe into these inhos- 
pitable regions, and with the passage of Mithridates across the 
river Phasis, his third war with Rome came to an end, 

Mithridates, in B.C. 65, retreated from Dioscurias to Pan- 
ticapaeum, and established himself in the old kingdom of the 
Bosporus. Such a principality was, however, too narrow for 
his ambition. Having vainly attempted to come to terms with 
Pompey, he formed the wild design of renewing the struggle 
with Rome by attacking her in a new quarter. It was his in- 
tention to proceed westward round the European side of the 
Black Sea, and to throw himself upon the Roman frontier, per- 
haps even to march upon Italy. But neither his soldiers nor his 
near relatives were willing to embark in so wild a project. Its 
announcement caused general disaffection, which at last ended 
in conspiracy. His own son, Pharnaces, headed the malcon- 
tents ; and the aged monarch, finding no support in any quar- 
ter, caused himself to be despatched by one of his guards, 
B.C. 63. The bulk of Pontus became a Roman province, 
though a portion continued till the time of Nero to be ruled by 
princes belonging to the old royal stock. 

Kingdom of Cappadocia. 

After the division of the Cappadocian satrapy into two prov- 
inces, a northern and a southern, the latter continued subject 
to Persia, the government being, however, hereditary in a 
branch of the same family which had made itself independent 
in the northern province. The Datames and Ariamnes of 
Diodorus held this position, and are not to be regarded as 
independent kings. It was only when the successes of Alex- 
ander loosed the bands which held the Persian empire together 
(B.C. 331) that the satrap, Ariarathes, the son of Ariamnes, 
assumed the airs of independence, and, resisting the attack of 
Perdiccas, was by him defeated, made a prisoner, and crucified, 
B.C. 322. 



246 RAWLINSON 

Perdiccas, having subjected Cappadocia, made over his con- 
quest to Eumenes, who continued, nominally at any rate, its 
ruler until his death in B.C. 316. Cappadocia then revolted 
under Ariarathes II., the nephev^ of Ariarathes I., who de- 
feated and slew the Macedonian general, Amyntas, expelled 
the foreign garrisons, and re-established the independence of 
his country. No attempt seems to have been made to dis- 
possess him either by Antigonus or Seleucus ; and Ariarathes 
left his crown to the eldest of his sons, Ariamnes, probably 
about B.C. 280. 

The next two kings, Ariamnes, and his son, Ariarathes III., 
are little heard of in history: they appear to have reigned 
quietly but ingloriously. A friendly connection between the 
royal houses of Cappadocia and Syria was established in the 
reign of the former, who obtained as a wife for his much- 
loved son, Stratonice, the daughter of Antiochus Theus. The 
two reigns of Ariamnes and Ariarathes III. appear to have 
covered a space of about sixty years, from B.C. 280 to 220. 
Ariarathes III. left the crown to a son, bearing the same name, 
who was at the time of his father's death an infant. 

The reign of Ariarathes IV. is remarkable as being that 
which ended the comparative isolation of Cappadocia, and 
brought the kingdom into close relation with the other mon- 
archies of Asia Minor, and not only with them, but also with 
the great republic of the West. The history of Cappadocia is 
henceforth inextricably intermixed with that of the other king- 
doms of Western Asia, and has been to a great extent antici- 
pated in what has been said of them. Ariarathes IV., who was 
the first cousin of Antiochus the Great, married in B.C. 192 his 
daughter Antiochis, and, being thus doubly connected with the 
Seleucid family, entered into close alliance with the Syrian 
king, assisted him in his war against Rome, and bore his part 
in the great battle of Magnesia by which the power of the Syr- 
ian empire was broken, B.C. 190. Having thus incurred the 
hostility of the Romans, and at the same time become sensible 
of the greatness of their power, Ariarathes proceeded, in B.C. 
188, to deprecate their wrath, and by an alliance with the 
Roman protege, Eumenes, which was cemented by a marriage, 
succeeded in appeasing the offended republic and obtained 



ANCIENT HISTORY 247 

favorable terms. Ariarathes then assisted Eumenes in his war 
with Pharnaces of Pontus, B.C. 183 to 179, after which he was 
engaged in a prolonged quarrel with the Gauls of Galatia, who 
wished to annex a portion of his territory. He continued on 
the most friendly terms with Rome from the conclusion of 
peace in B.C. 188 till his death in the winter of B.C. 163-2. 
His reign lasted fifty-eight years. 

Ariarathes V., surnamed " Philopator " from the afifection 
which he bore his father, maintained the alliance between Cap- 
padocia and Rome with great fidelity. Solicited by Demetrius 
Soter to enter into alliance with him and to connect his fam- 
ily with that of the Seleucidge once more by a marriage, he de- 
clined out of regard for Rome. Angered by his refusal, Deme- 
trius set up against him the pretender, Orophernes, B.C. 158, 
and for a time deprived him of his kingdom. The Romans, 
however, with the help of Attains H., restored him in the year 
following. After this Ariarathes lent Attains important aid 
in his war with Prusias of Bithynia, B.C. 156 to 154, and when 
Aristonicus attempted to resist the Roman occupation of that 
province, B.C. 133, he joined the Romans in person, and lost 
his life in their cause, B.C. 131. 

Ariarathes V. seems to have left behind him as many as six 
sons, none of whom, however, had reached maturity. Lao- 
dice, therefore, the queen-mother, became regent ; and, being 
an ambitious and unscrupulous woman, she contrived to poison 
five out of her six sons before they were of age to reign, and 
so kept the government in her own hands. One, the youngest, 
was preserved, like the Jewish king, Joash, by his near rela- 
tives ; and, after the death of Laodice, who fell a victim to the 
popular indignation, he ascended the throne under the name 
of Ariarathes VI. Little is known of this king, except that he 
made alliance with Mithridates the Great, and married a sister 
of that monarch, named also Laodice, about B.C. 115. By 
her he had two sons, both named Ariarathes. He was mur- 
dered by an emissary of Mithridates, B.C. 96, when his sons 
were just growing into men. 

On the removal of Ariarathes VL his dominions were seized 
by his brother-in-law, Mithridates, who designed to assume 
the rule of them himself; but Laodice, the widow of the late 



248 RAWLINSON 

king, having called in the aid of Nicomedes II., king of Bithy- 
nia, whom she married, Mithridates, in order to retain his hold 
on Cappadocia, found it necessary to allow the country its own 
monarch, and accordingly set up as king, B.C. 96 or 95, Ari- 
arathes VII., elder son of Ariarathes VL, and consequently the 
legitimate monarch. This prince, however, showing himself 
too independent, Mithridates, in B.C. 94, invited him to a con- 
ference and slew him ; after which he placed on the throne a 
son of his own, aged eight years, whose name he changed to 
Ariarathes. But the Cappadocians rose in rebellion against 
this attempt, and raised to the throne another Ariarathes, the 
son of Ariarathes VI., and the younger brother of Ariarathes 
VII., who endeavored to establish himself, but was driven out 
by Mithridates and died shortly afterwards. By the death of 
this prince the old royal family of Cappadocia became extinct ; 
and though pretenders to the throne, claiming a royal descent, 
were put forward both by Mithridates and Nicomedes, yet, 
as the nullity of these claims was patent, Rome permitted the 
Cappadocians to choose themselves a new sovereign, which 
they did in B.C. 93, when Ariobarzanes was proclaimed king. 

Ariobarzanes had scarcely ascended the throne when he 
was expelled by Tigranes, king of Armenia, and forced to fly 
to Rome for protection. The Romans reinstated him in the 
next year, B.C. 92; and he reigned in peace for four years, 
B.C. 92 to 88, when he was again ejected, this time by Mith- 
ridates, who seized his territories, and retained possession of 
them during the whole of his first war with the Romans. At 
the peace, made in B.C. 84, Ariobarzanes was once more re- 
stored. He now continued undisturbed till B.C. 67, when 
Mithridates and Tigranes in combination drove him from his 
kingdom for the third time, after which, in B.C. 66, he received 
his third restoration at the hands of Pompey. About two years 
later he abdicated in favor of his son, Ariobarzanes. 

Ariobarzanes II., the friend of Cicero, began to reign prob- 
ably in B.C. 64. He took the titles of " Eusebes " (the Pious) 
and " Philorhomseus " (lover of the Romans), and appears to 
have aimed steadily at deserving the latter appellation. It was 
difficult, however, to please all parties in the civil wars. Ario- 
barzanes sided with Pompey against Caesar, and owed it to the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



249 



magnanimity of the latter that he was not deprived of his king- 
dom after Pharsaha, but forgiven and allowed an increase of 
territory. In the next civil war he was less fortunate. Having 
ventured to oppose the " Liberators," he was seized and put 
to death by Cassius, B.C. 42, after he had reigned between 
twenty-one and twenty-two years. 

After Philippi, Antony conferred the crown of Cappadocia 
on Ariarathes IX., the son (apparently) of the last king. It was 
not long, however, before this prince lost his favor, and, in B.C. 
36, he was put to death by Antony's orders, who wanted his 
throne for Archelaus, one of his creatures. Archelaiis, the 
grandson of Mithridates's general of the same name, ruled 
Cappadocia from B.C. 36 to A.D. 15, when he was summoned 
to Rome by Tiberius, who had been offended by the circum- 
stance that Archelaus paid him no attention when he was in 
voluntary exile at Rhodes. Archelaiis in vain endeavored to 
excuse himself: he was retained at Rome by the tyrant, and 
died there, either of a disease, or possibly by his own hand, 
about A.D. 17. His kingdom was then reduced into the form 
of a Roman province. 

Kingdom of the Greater Armenia. 

Armenia, which, from the date of the battle of Ipsus, B.C. 
301, formed a portion of the empire of the Seleucidse, revolted 
on the defeat of Antiochus the Great by the Romans, B.C. 190, 
and became split up into two kingdoms, Armenia Major and 
Armenia Minor, the latter lying on the west bank of the Eu- 
phrates. The first king of Armenia Major was Artaxias, who 
had been a general of Antiochus. He built Artaxata, the cap- 
ital, and reigned probably about twenty-five years, when he 
was attacked, defeated, and made prisoner by Antiochus 
Epiphanes, about B.C. 165, who recovered Armenia to the 
Syrian empire. How long the subjection continued is uncer- 
tain ; but about B.C. 100 we find an Armenian king mentioned, 
who seems to be independent, and who carries on war with the 
Parthian monarch, Mithridates. This king, who is called by 
Justin Ortoadistes, appears to have been succeeded, B.C. 96, 
by the greatest of the Armenian monarchs, Tigranes I., who 



250 RAWLINSON 

took the part already described in the great war between Mith- 
ridates of Pontus and the Romans. 

Tigranes L, who was a descendant of Artaxias, raised Ar- 
menia from the condition of a petty kingdom to a powerful 
and extensive empire. Compelled in his early years to pur- 
chase a peace of the Parthians by a cession of territory, he soon 
afterwards, about B.C. 90 to 87, not only recovered his prov- 
inces, but added to his dominions the important countries of 
Atropatene, and Gordyene (or Upper Mesopotamia), chastis- 
ing the Parthian monarch on his own soil, and gaining for him- 
self a great reputation. He then determined to attack the 
Syrian kingdom, which was verging to its fall under Philip, 
son of Grypus. Having crossed the Euphrates, he easily made 
himself master of the entire Syrian territory, including the 
province of Cilicia ; and for fourteen years, B.C. 83 to 69, his 
dominions reached across the whole of Western Asia, from 
the borders of Pamphylia to the shores of the Caspian. It was 
during these years that he founded his great capital of Tigrano- 
certa, and gave grievous ofifense to Rome by his conduct 
towards her protege, Ariobarzanes of Cappadocia, whose terri- 
tory he ravaged, B.C. 75, carrying ofif more than 300,000 
people. Soon afterwards he added to the offense by receiving 
and supporting Mithridates, and thus he drew the Roman arms 
upon himself and his kingdom. 

The result of the war with Rome was the loss by Tigranes 
of all his conquests. He retained merely his original kingdom 
of the Greater Armenia. The fidelity, however, which he 
showed towards Pompey led to the enlargement of his domin- 
ions, B.C. 65, by the addition of Gordyene; and the Roman 
alliance was otherwise serviceable to him in the war which he 
continued to wage with Parthia. He appears to have died 
about B.C. 55, eleven years after the conclusion of his peace 
with Rome, and one year before the expedition of Crassus. 

Tigranes was succeeded by his son, Artavasdes I., who be- 
gan his reign by following out the later policy of his father, 
and endeavoring to keep on good terms with the Romans. 
He bore a part in the great expedition of Crassus against the 
Parthians, B.C. 54 ; and it was only when Orodes, the Parthian 
king, advanced against him, and he was unable to obtain any 



ANCIENT HISTORY 251 

assistance from Rome, that he consented to a Parthian alliance, 
and gave his daughter in marriage to Orodes's son, Pacorus. 
This led him, when Pacorus invaded Syria, B.C. 51, to take up 
an attitude of hostility to the Romans. But, at a later date, 
when Antony threatened the Parthians, B.C. 36, he again es- 
poused the Roman side, and took part in that general's ex- 
pedition into Media Atropatene, which turned out unfortu- 
nately. Antony attributed his repulse to Artavasdes deserting 
him in his difficulties, and therefore invaded his country, in 
B.C. 34, obtained possession of his person, and carried him into 
captivity. Cleopatra afterwards, B.C. 30, put Artavasdes to 
death. 

On the captivity of Artavasdes, the Armenians conferred the 
royal dignity on Artaxias II., his son. At first the Romans, 
in conjunction with Artavasdes of Atropatene, drove him out ; 
but during the struggle between Octavius and Antony he re- 
turned, defeated the Atropatenian monarch, and took him pris- 
oner. At the same time, he gave command for a massacre of 
all the Romans in Armenia, which accordingly took place. He 
reigned from B.C. 34 to 19, when he was murdered by his re- 
lations. 

The Romans now brought forward a candidate for the throne 
in the person of Tigranes, the brother of Artaxias II., who was 
installed in his kingdom by Tiberius at the command of Au- 
gustus, and ruled the country as Tigranes II. From this time 
Armenian independence was really at an end. The titular 
monarchs were mere puppets, maintained in their position by 
the Roman emperors or the Parthian kings, who alternately 
exercised a prepondering influence over the country. At 
length Armenia was made into a Roman province by Trajan, 
B.C. 114. 

Kingdom of Armenia Minor. 

The kingdom of Armenia Minor was founded by Zariadras, 
a general of Antiochus the Great, about the same time that 
Artaxias founded the kingdom of Armenia Major, i.e., about 
B.C. 190. It continued a separate state, governed by the de- 
scendants of the founder, till the time of Mithridates of Pontus, 
when it was annexed to his dominions by that ambitious prince. 



252 



RAWLINSON 



Subsequently it fell almost wholly under the power of the Ro- 
mans, and was generally attached to one or other of the neigh- 
boring kingdoms, until the reign of Vespasian, when it was 
converted into a Roman province. The names of the early 
kings after Zariadras are unknown. Among the later were a 
Cotys, contemporary with Caligula, A.D. 47, and an Aristobu- 
lus, contemporary with Nero, A.D. 54. The latter prince be- 
longed to the family of the Herods. 

Kingdom of Bactrta. 

The Bactrian satrapy was for some time after the death of 
Alexander only nominally subject to any of the so-called " Suc- 
cessors." But, about B.C. 305, Seleucus Nicator in his Orien- 
tal expedition received the submission of the governor; and 
from that date till the reign of his grandson, Antiochus Theus, 
Bactria continued to be a province of the Syrian empire. Then, 
however, the personal character of Antiochus Theus, and his 
entanglement in a war with Ptolemy Philadelphus, which taxed 
his powers to the utmost, encouraged the remoter provinces to 
revolt; and about B.C. 255 Diodotus, satrap of Bactria, de- 
clared himself independent, and became the founder of the 
Bactrian kingdom. 

Little is known of Diodotus I. beyond the date of his acces- 
sion, and the fact of the continuance of his reign from about 
B.C. 255 to 237. It is possible that about B.C. 244 he (nom- 
inally at any rate) submitted to Ptolemy Euergetes ; and prob- 
able that when Seleucus Callinicus made his first attack on 
Parthia, Diodotus lent him assistance, and obtained in return 
an acknowledgment of his independence. He appears to have 
died during the expedition of Callinicus, which is assigned 
probably to the year B.C. 237. At his death he left the crown 
to a son of the same name. 

Diodotus II., who succeeded Diodotus I, about B.C. 237, 
pursued a policy quite different from that of his father. In- 
stead of lending aid to Callinicus, he concluded a treaty with 
Arsaces II. (Tiridates), the Parthian king, and probably assist- 
ed him in the great battle by which Parthian independence was 
regarded as finally established. Nothing more is known of 



ANCIENT HISTORY 253 

this king ; nor can it even be determined whether it was he or 
his son who was removed by Euthydcmus, when that prince 
seized the crown, about B.C. 222. 

Euthydemus, the third known Bactrian king, was a Greek 
of Magnesia, in Asia Minor. The circumstances under which 
he seized the crown are unknown to us ; but it appears that he 
had been king for some considerable time when Antiochus the 
Great, having made peace with Arsaces, the third Parthian 
monarch, turned his arms against Bactria with the view of re- 
ducing it to subjection. In a battle fought on the Arius (Heri- 
Rud), Euthydemus was defeated ; but Antiochus, who received 
a wound in the engagement, shortly after granted him terms, 
promised to give one of his daughters in marriage to Demetri- 
us, Euthydemus's son, and left him in quiet possession of his 
dominions, B.C. 206. The Indian conquests of Demetrius 
seem to have commenced soon afterwards, while his father was 
still living. They were on the south side of the Paropamisus, 
in the modern Candahar and Cabul. 

Demetrius, who is proved by his coins to have been king of 
Bactria, no doubt succeeded his father. He engaged in an im- 
portant series of conquests — partly as crown prince, partly as 
king — on the southern side of the Paropamisus, which extend- 
ed probably over the greater portion of Afghanistan, and may 
even have embraced some districts of the Punjab region. The 
city of Demetrias in Arachosia, and that of Euthydemeia on 
the Hydaspes, are with reason regarded as traces of these con- 
quests. While Demetrius was thus employed, a rebel named 
Eucratides seems to have supplanted him at home ; and the 
reigns of these monarchs were for some time parallel, De- 
metrius ruling on the south and Eucratides on the north side 
of the mountain.* 

After the death of Demetrius, Eucratides appears to have 
reigned over both kingdoms. He was a monarch of consid- 
erable vigor and activity, and pushed his conquests deep into 
the Punjab region. He lost, however, a portion of his home 
territory to the Parthian princes. On his return from an 

* The dates for the accession and death of Demetrius are exceed- 
ingly doubtful. The best authorities assign him, conjecturally, the space 
from about B.C. 200 to 180. 



254 RAWLINSON 

Indian expedition he was waylaid and slain by his own son, 
whom he had previously associated in the kingdom. His 
reign must have lasted from about B.C. i8o to i6o. 

The son of Eucratides, who after his murder became sole 
monarch of Bactria, appears to have been a certain Heliocles, 
who took the title of AUaio<i, " the Just," and reigned over 
Bactria probably from about B.C. i6o to 150. Nothing is 
known in detail of the circumstances of his reign ; but there is 
reason to believe that Bactria now rapidly declined in power, 
being pressed upon by the Scythian nomades towards the 
north, and by the Parthians on the west and south, and con- 
tinually losing one province after another to the invaders. It 
was in vain that these unhappy Greeks implored in their isola- 
tion the aid of their Syrian brethren against the constant en- 
croachments of the barbarians. The expedition of Demetrius 
Nicator, undertaken for their relief, B.C. 142, terminated in his 
defeat and capture. Hellenic culture and civilization proved 
in this quarter no match for barbaric force, and had of neces- 
sity to give way and retreat. After the reign of Heliocles, we 
have no further indication of Greek rulers to the north of the 
Paropamisus. On the southern side of the mountain-chain 
somewhat more of tenacity was shown. In Cabul and Canda- 
har Greek kingdoms, ofYshoots of the Bactrian, continued to 
exist down to about B.C. 80, when the last remnant of Hellenic 
power in this quarter was swept away by the Yue-chi and 
other Scythic, or Tartar races. 

Kingdom of Parthia. 

The Parthian kingdom is said to have been founded nearly 
at the same time with the Bactrian, during the reign of An- 
tiochus Theus in Syria, about B.C. 255 or 256. It originated, 
however, not in the revolt of a satrap, but in the uprising of a 
nation. Reinforced by a kindred body of Turanians from be- 
yond the Jaxartes, the Parthi of the region lying south-east of 
the Caspian, rose in revolt against their Grecian masters, and 
succeeded in establishing their independence. From a small 
beginning they gradually spread their power over the greater 
part of Western Asia, being for a considerable period lords of 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



255 



all the countries between the Euphrates and the Sutlej. As 
the Parthian kingdom, though a fragment of the empire of 
Alexander, was never absorbed into that of the Romans, but 
continued to exist side by side with the Roman empire during 
the most flourishing period of the latter, it is proposed to re- 
serve the details of the history for the next Book, and to give 
only this brief notice of the general character of the monarchy 
in the present place. 

Kingdom of Judcea. 

Though the Jewish kingdom, which came into being mid- 
w^ay in the Syrian period, originating in the intolerable cruel- 
ties and oppressions of the Syrian kings, was geographically 
of such small extent as scarcely to claim distinct treatment in a 
work which must needs omit to notice many of the lesser states 
and kingdoms, yet the undying interest which attaches to the 
Jewish people, and the vast influence which the nation has ex- 
ercised over the progress of civilization, will justify, it is 
thought, in the present place, not only on account of the king- 
dom, but a sketch of the general history of the nation from the 
time when, as related in the first Book, it was carried into 
captivity by Nebuchadnezzar to the period of the re-establish- 
ment of independence. This history naturally divides itself 
into two periods: — i. From the Captivity to the fall of the 
Persian empire, B.C. 586 to 323 ; and, 2. From the fall of the 
Persian empire to the re-establishment of an independent king- 
dom, B.C. 323 to 168. The history of the kingdom may also 
be most conveniently treated in two portions: — i. The Mac- 
cabee period, from B.C. 168 to 37; and, 2. The period of the 
Herods, B.C. '^^'j to A.D. 44, when Judsea became finally a Ro- 
man province. Thus the entire history v/ill fall under four 
heads. 

First Period. — About fifty years after the completion of the 
Captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, and nearly seventy years after 
its commencement, a great change was effected in the condi- 
tion of the Jewish people by Cyrus. That monarch, having 
captured Babylon in the year B.C. 538, found among his new 
subjects an oppressed race, in whose religion he recognized a 



256 RAWLINSON 

considerable resemblance to his own, and in whose fortunes he 
therefore took a special interest. Learning that they had been 
violently removed from their own country two generations 
previously, and finding that numbers of them had a strong de- 
sire to return, he gave permission that such as wished might 
go back and re-establish themselves in their country. Accord- 
ingly, a colony, numbering 42,360 persons, besides their ser- 
vants, set out from Babylonia, and made their way to Jerusa- 
lem ; in or near which the greater number of them settled. 
This colony, at the head of which was Zerubbabel, a descend- 
ant of the old line of kings, was afterwards strengthened by two 
others, one led by Ezra, in B.C. 458, and the other by Nehe- 
miah, in B.C. 445. Besides these known accessions, there was 
probably also for many years a continual influx of individuals, 
or families, who were attracted to their own land, not only by 
the love of country, which has always been so especially strong 
in the Jews, but also by motives of religion. Still great num- 
bers of Jews, probably half the nation, remained where they 
had so long resided, in Babylonia and the adjoining countries. 

The exiles who returned under Zerubbabel belonged pre- 
dominantly, if not exclusively, to three tribes, Judah, Levi, and 
Benjamin. It was their first object to rebuild their famous 
Temple on its former site, and to re-establish the old Temple- 
service. But in this work they were greatly hindered by their 
neighbors. A mixed race, partly Israelite, partly foreign — 
including Babylonians, Persians, Elamites, Arabs, and others 
— had repeopled the old kingdom of Samaria, and established 
there a mongrel worship, in part Jehovistic, in part idolatrous. 
On the first arrival of the Jewish colony, this mixed race pro- 
posed to join the new-comers in the erection of their Temple, 
and to make it a common sanctuary open both to themselves 
and the Jews. But such a course would have been dangerous 
to the purity of religion ; and Zerubbabel very properly de- 
clined the of¥er. His refusal stirred up a spirit of hostility 
among the " Samaritans ; " which showed itself in prolonged 
efforts to prevent the rebuilding of the Temple and the city — 
efforts which were for a while successful, considerably delay- 
ing, though they could not finally defeat, the work. 

The favor of Darius Hystaspis allowed the Jews to complete 



ANCIENT HISTORY 257 

their Temple, and to establish themselves firmly in the country 
of their ancestors, despite the ill-will of the surrounding na- 
tions and tribes. But in the reign of his successor, Xerxes, 
a terrible danger was incurred. That weak prince allowed his 
minister, Haman (Omanes?), to persuade him that it would 
be for the advantage of his empire, if the Jews, who were to be 
found in various parts of his dominions, always a distinct race, 
not amalgamating with those among whom they lived, could 
be quietly got rid of. Having obtained the monarch's consent, 
he planned and prepared a general massacre, by which on one 
day the whole race was to be swept from the earth. Fortu- 
nately for the doomed nation, the inclination of the fickle king 
had shifted before the day of execution came, the interposition 
of the wife in favor at the time, who was a Jewess, having 
availed for the preservation of her people. Instead of being 
taken unawares by their enemies, and massacred unresistingly, 
the Jews were everywhere warned of their danger and allowed 
to stand on their defense. The weight of the government was 
thrown on their side ; and the result was that, wherever they 
were attacked, they triumphed, and improved their future po- 
sition by the destruction of all their most bitter adversaries. 

Though the Jews had thus escaped this great danger, and 
had strengthened their position by the destruction of so many 
of their enemies, yet their continued existence as a separate 
nation was still far from secure. Two causes imperilled it. In 
spite of the refusal to allow foreigners, even though partially 
allied in race, to take part in the rebuilding of the Temple, a 
tendency showed itself, as time went on, towards a fusion 
with the surrounding peoples. The practice of intermarriage 
with these peoples commenced, and had gained a great head 
when Ezra brought his colony from Babylon in the seventh 
year of Longimanus, B.C. 458. By the earnest efforts, first 
of Ezra, and then of Nehemiah, about B.C. 434, this evil was 
checked. 

The other peril was of a different kind. Jerusalem, though 
rebuilt on the old site by the colony of Zerubbabel, was without 
walls or other defenses, and thus lay open to attack on the 
part of any hostile neighbor. The authority of Persia was 
weak in the more remote provinces, which not unfrequently 
17 



258 RAWLINSON 

revolted, and remained for years in a state bordering on an- 
archy. It was an important gain to the Jews when, in the 
twentieth year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah came down from the 
court with authority to refortify the city, and effected his pur- 
pose despite the opposition which he encountered, B.C. 445. 

It was a feature of the Persian system to allow the nations 
under their rule a good deal of self-government and internal 
independence. Judaea was a portion of the Syrian satrapy, and 
had no doubt to submit to such requisitions as the Syrian satrap 
made upon it for men and money. But, so long as these requi- 
sitions were complied with, there was not much further inter- 
ference with the people, or with their mode of managing their 
own affairs. Occasionally a local governor (Tirshatha), with 
a rank and title below those of a satrap, was appointed by the 
Crown to superintend Judsea, or Jerusalem ; but these officers 
do not appear to have succeeded each other with regularity, 
and, when they were appointed, it would seem that they were 
always natives. In default of a regular succession of such 
governors, the High-priests came to be regarded as not merely 
the religious but also the political heads of the nation, and the 
general direction of affairs fell into their hands. 

Second Period. — In the partitions which were made of Alex- 
ander's dominions at Babylon and at Triparadisus, the Syrian 
satrapy, which included Palestine, was constituted a separate 
government. But a very little time elapsed before Ptolemy 
Lagi annexed the satrapy, the southern division of which con- 
tinued thenceforward, except during short intervals, a portion 
of the kingdom of Egypt, until the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes. 
It is uncertain whether Alexander assigned the Jews any spe- 
cial privileges in the great city which he founded in Egypt ; but 
there can be no doubt that the early Ptolemies highly favored 
this class of their subjects, attracting them in vast numbers 
to their capital, encouraging their literature, and granting them 
many privileges. The subjection of Judaea to Egypt lasted 
from B.C. 320 to B.C. 203 ; and though the country was during 
this space ravaged more than once by the forces of contending 
armies, yet on the whole the time must be regarded as one 
of general peace and prosperity. The High-priests continued 
to be at the head of the state, and ruled Judsea without much 
oppressive interference from the Egyptians. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 259 

Towards the close of the Ptolemaic period, the Jews began 
to have serious cause of complaint against their Egyptian rul- 
ers. The fourth Ptolemy (Philopator), a weak and debauched 
prince, attempted to violate the sanctity of the Jewish Temple 
by entering it, and, when his attempt was frustrated, sought to 
revenge himself by punishing the Alexandrian Jews, who had 
done him no injury at all. It was the natural result of these 
violent proceedings that the Jews, in disgust and alarm, should 
seek a protector elsewhere. Accordingly, when Antiochus the 
Great, in the infancy of Ptolemy Epiphanes, determined to 
attack Egypt, and to annex, if possible, to his own dominions 
the valuable maritime tract extending from his province of 
Upper Syria to the Sinaitic Desert, the Jews voluntarily joined 
him ; and though Ptolemy's general, Scopas, recovered most 
of what had been lost, yet Antiochus, by the victory of Paneas, 
B.C. 198, was left in final possession of the whole region, which 
thenceforth, though often disputed by Egypt, became a pos- 
session of the Syrian kings. 

Under Antiochus the Great, and for a time under his elder 
son, Seleucus Philopator, the Jews had no reason to repent the 
exchange they had made. Both Antiochus, and Seleucus for 
a while, respected the privileges of the nation, and abstained 
from any proceedings that could give umbrage to their new 
subjects. But towards the close of the reign of Seleucus, an 
important change of policy took place. The wealth of the 
Jewish Temple being reported to the Syrian monarch, and 
his own needs being great, he made an attempt to appropri- 
ate the sacred treasure, which was however frustrated, either 
by miracle, or by the contrivance of the High-priest Onias. 
This unwarrantable attempt of Seleucus was followed by 
worse outrages in the reign of his brother and successor, An- 
tiochus Epiphanes. Not only did that monarch sell the office 
of High-priest, first to Jason and then to Menelaiis, but he 
endeavored to effect by systematic proceedings the complete 
Hellenization of the Jews, whereto a party in the nation was 
already sufficiently inclined. Further, having, by his own 
iniquitous proceedings in the matter of the high-priesthood, 
given occasion to a civil war between the rival claimants, he 
chose to regard the war as rebellion against his authority, and 



26o RAWLINSON 

on his return from his second Egyptian campaign, B.C. 170, 
took possession of Jerusalem, and gave it up to massacre and 
pillage. At the same time he plundered the Temple of its 
sacred vessels and treasures. Nor was this all. Two years 
afterwards, B.C. 168, he caused Jerusalem to be occupied a 
second time by an armed force, set up an idol altar in the 
Temple, and caused sacrifice to be offered there to Jupiter 
Olympius. The Jews were forbidden any longer to observe 
the Law, and were to be Hellenized by main force. Hence 
the rising under the Maccabees, and the gradual re-establish- 
ment of independence. 

Third Period. — At first the patriots who rose up against the 
attempt to annihilate the national religion and life were a 
scanty band, maintaining themselves with difBculty in the 
mountains against the forces of the Syrian kings. Jerusalem, 
which was won by Judas Maccabaeus, was lost again at his 
death; and it was not till about B.C. 153, fourteen years after 
the first revolt, that the struggle entered on a new phase in 
consequence of the contentions which then began between 
different pretenders to the Syrian throne. When war arose be- 
tween Demetrius and Alexander Balas, the support of the 
Jews was felt to be of importance by both parties. Both, con- 
sequently, made overtures to Jonathan, the third Maccabee 
prince, who was shortly recognized not only as prince, but 
also as High-priest of the nation. From this time, as there 
were almost constant disputes between rival claimants of the 
crown in Syria, the Jews were able to maintain themselves 
with comparative ease. Once or twice, during a pause in the 
Syrian contest, they were attacked and were forced to make a 
temporary submission. But the general result was that they 
maintained, and indeed continually enlarged, their indepen- 
dence. For some time they did not object to acknowledge the 
Syrian monarch as their suzerain, and to pay him an annual 
tribute; but after the death of Antiochus VH. (Sidetes) all 
such payments seem to have ceased, and the complete inde- 
pendence of the country was established. Coins were struck 
bearing the name of the Maccabee prince, and the title of 
" King." Judaea was indeed from this time as powerful a 
monarchy as Syria. John Hyrcanus conquered Samaria and 



ANCIENT HISTORY 261 

Idumsea, and thus largely extended the Jewish boundaries, 
exactly at the time when those of Syria were undergoing rapid 
contraction. 

The deliverance of the state from any further fear of sub- 
jection by Syria was followed almost immediately by internal 
quarrels and dissensions, which led naturally to the acceptance 
of a position of subordination under another power. The 
Pharisees and Sadducees, hitherto mere religious sects, be- 
came transformed into political factions. Civil wars broke out. 
The members of the royal family quarrelled with each other, 
and the different pretenders to the crown appealed for assist- 
ance to foreign nations. About B.C. 63 the Romans entered 
upon the scene ; and for the last twenty-six years of the Mac- 
cabee period — B.C. 63 to 37 — while feeble princes of the once 
mighty Asmonaean family still nominally held the throne, the 
Great Republic was really supreme in Palestine, took tribute, 
and appointed governors, or sanctioned the rule of kings, at 
her pleasure. It is the change of dynasty, and not any change 
in the internal condition of the country, that causes the year 
B.C. 2i7 to be taken as that at which to draw the line between 
the close of one period and the commencement of another. 

Fourth Period. — During the fourth period Roman influence 
was, not only practically, as during much of the third period, 
but professedly predominant over the country. The Herods, 
who owed their establishment in authority wholly to the Ro- 
mans, had no other means of maintaining themselves than by 
preserving the favor of their patrons. Obnoxious, except to 
a small fraction of the nation, from their Idumsean descent, 
they were hated still more as the minions of a foreign power, 
a standing proof to the nation of its own weakness and de- 
graded condition. On the other hand, there were no doubt 
some who viewed the rule of the Herods as, in a certain sense, 
a protection against Rome, a something interposed between 
the nation and its purely heathen oppressors, saving the na- 
tional life from extinction, and ofifering the best compromise 
which circumstances permitted between an impossible entire 
independence and a too probable absorption into the empire. 
Such persons were willing to see in Herod the Great, and again 
in Herod Agrippa, the Messiah — the king foredoomed to save 



262 RAWLINSON 

them from the yoke of the foreigner, and to obtain for them 
the respect, if not even the obedience, of the surrounding 
peoples. 

But these feeHngs, and the attachment to the dynasty which 
grew out of them, must have become weaker as time went on. 
The kingdom of the Herods gradually lost instead of gaining 
in power. Rome continually encroached more and more. As 
early as A.D. 8, a portion of Palestine, and the most important 
portion in the eyes of the Jews, was formally incorporated into 
the Roman empire; and though the caprice of an emperor 
afterwards revoked this proceeding, and restored another 
Herod to the throne of his grandfather, yet from the moment 
when the first Procurator levied taxes in a Jewish province all 
but the willfully blind must have seen what was impending. 
The civil authority of the last native prince over Judsea came 
to an end in A.D. 44 ; and the whole of Palestine, except a small 
district held as a kingdom by Agrippa II., was from that time 
absorbed into the empire, being appended to the Roman prov- 
ince of Syria and ruled wholly by Roman Procurators. The 
national life was consequently at the last gasp. As far as 
political forms went, it was extinct ; but there remained enough 
of vital energy in the seeming corpse for the nation once more 
to reassert itself, and to show by the great " War of Indepen- 
dence " that it was not to be finally crushed without a fearful 
struggle, the issue of which at one time appeared almost 
doubtful. 

The proximate cause of the great Jewish revolt and of the 
" War of Independence " was the oppression of the Procura- 
tors, and especially of Gessius Florus, But, even had the Ro- 
man governors ruled mildly, it is probable that a rebellion 
would sooner or later have broken out. The Roman system 
was unlike those of the foreign powers to which Judgea had 
in former times submitted. It was intolerant of differences, 
and aimed everywhere, not only at absorbing, but at assimi- 
lating the populations. The Jews could under no circum- 
stances have allowed their nationality to be crushed other- 
wise than by violence. As it was, the tyranny of Gessius 
Florus precipitated a struggle which must have come in any 
case, and made the contest fiercer, bloodier, and more pro- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 263 

traded than it might have been otherwise. From the first 
revolt against his authority to the capture of the city by Titus 
was a period of nearly five years, A.D. 66 to 70. The fall of 
the city was followed by its destruction, partly as a punishment 
for the desperation of the resistance, but more as a precaution 
to deprive the Jews, now felt to be really formidable, of their 
natural rallying-point in any future rebellion. 



BOOK V 

HISTORY OF ROME AND HISTORY OF 
PARTHIA 



TULLIA DRIVING OVER HER FATHER S CORPSE. 

Photogravure from the original painting by Ernst Hildebrand. 

TuUia was a daughter of Servius Tullius, and the wife of Aruns, brother of 
Tarquin. She murdered her husband ; and Tarquin, having killed his wife, mar- 
ried her, slew Servius Tullius, and proclaimed himself King. According to the 
Roman legend Tullia rode to the Senate house to greet her husband as King, and 
on her return drove over the dead body of her father, which lay in the way. The 
street through which she drove thereafter bore the name of Vicus Sceleratus — 
Abominable Street. 



BOOK V 

HISTORY OF ROME FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO 
THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE, A.D. 476, AND 
PARALLEL HISTORY OF PARTHIA. 



PART I.— HISTORY OF ROME. 

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE GEOGRAPHY 
OF ANCIENT ITALY. 

The Italian Peninsula is the smallest of the three tracts which 
project themselves from the European continent southward 
into the Mediterranean. Its greatest length between the Alps 
and Cape Spartivento is 720 miles, and its greatest width be- 
tween the Little St. Bernard and the hills north of Trieste is 
330 miles. The ordinary width, however, is only 100 miles ; 
and the area is thus, even including the littoral islands, not 
much more than 110,000 square miles. The peninsula was 
bounded on the north and north-west by the Alps, on the east 
by the Adriatic, on the south by the Mediterranean, and on 
the west of the Tyrrhenian Sea {Mare Tyrrhcnum). 

The littoral extent of Italy is, in proportion to its area, very 
considerable, chiefly owing to the length and narrowness of the 
peninsula ; for the main coasts are but very slightly indented. 
Towards the west a moderate number of shallow gulfs, or 
rather bays, give a certain variety to the coast-line ; while on 
the east there is but one important headland, that of Gargano ; 
and but one bay of any size, that of Manfredonia. Southward, 
however, the shore has two considerable indentations in what 
would otherwise be but a short line, viz., the deep Gulf of 
Taranto and the shallower one of Squillace. A character gen- 
erally similar attaches to the coasts of the Italian islands, Sar- 

267 



268 RAWLINSON 

dinia, Sicily, and Corsica; and hence, though a nautical ten- 
dency belongs naturally to the Italian people, the tendency is 
not so distinct and pronounced as in the neighboring country 
of Greece. 

The Mountains of Italy consist of the two famous chains of 
the Alps and the Apennines. The Alps, which bound Italy 
along the whole of its northern and a part of its western side, 
form a lofty barrier naturally isolating the region from the 
rest of Europe. Nowhere less along the entire boundary-hne 
than 4000 feet in height, and varying from that minimum to a 
maximum of 15,000 feet, they are penetrable by no more than 
ten or twelve difficult passes, even at the present day. Their 
general direction is from east to west, or speaking more strict- 
ly, from N.E. by E. to S.W. by W. ; but, at a certain point 
in their course, the point in which they culminate, this direc- 
tion ceases, and they suddenly change their course and run 
nearly due north and south. Mont Blanc stands at the corner 
thus formed, like a gigantic buttress at the angle of a mighty 
building. The length of the chain from Mont Blanc south- 
ward to the coast is about 150 miles; the length eastward, 
so far as the Alps are Italian, is about 330 miles. Thus this 
huge barrier guards Italy for a distance of 480 miles with a 
rampart which in ancient time could scarcely be scaled. From 
the point where the Alps, striking southward from Mont Blanc, 
reach most nearly to the sea, a secondary chain is thrown off, 
which runs at first from west to east, almost parallel with the 
shore, to about the longitude of Cremona (10° east from Green- 
wich, nearly), after which it begins to trend south of east, and 
passing in this direction across about three-fourths of the 
peninsula, it again turns still more to the south, and proceeds 
in a course which is, as nearly as possible, due south-east, par- 
allel to the two coasts of the peninsula, along its entire length. 
This chain is properly the Apennines. In modern geography 
its more western portion bears the name of " The Maritime 
Alps ; " but as the chain is really continuous from a point a 
little north-east of Nice to the neighborhood of Reggio (Rhe- 
gium), a single name should be given to it throughout ; and, 
for distinction's sake, that name should certainly not be " Alps " 
but " Apennines." The Apennines in Northern Italy consist 



ANCIENT HISTORY 269 

of but a single chain, which throws ofif twisted spurs to the 
right hand and to the left ; but, when Central Italy is reached, 
the character of the range becomes more complicated. Below 
Lake Fucinus the chain bifurcates. While one range, the 
stronger of the two, pursues the old south-easterly direction, 
another of minor elevation branches off to the south, and ap- 
proaching the south coast very closely in the vicinity of Salcr- 
num, curves round and rejoins the main chain near Compsa. 
The range then proceeds in a single line nearly to Venusia, 
when it splits once more ; and while one branch runs on nearly 
due east to the extreme promontory of lapygia, the other 
proceeds almost due south to Rhegium. 

The most marked feature of Italian geography is the strong 
contrast in which Northern stands to Southern Italy. North- 
ern Italy is almost all plain ; Southern almost all mountain. 
The conformation of the mountain ranges in the north leaves 
between the parallel chains of the Swiss Alps and the Upper 
Apennines a vast tract — from 100 to 150 miles in width, which 
(speaking broadly) may be called a single plain — " the Plain 
of the Po," or '' the Plain of Lombardo-Venetia." In Southern 
Italy, or the Peninsula proper, plains of more than a few miles 
in extent are rare. The Apennines, with their many-twisted 
spurs, spread broadly over the land, and form a continuous 
mountain region which occupies at least one half of the sur- 
face. But this is not all. Where the chain is sufficiently nar- 
row to allow of the interposition, between its base and the 
shore, of any tolerably wide tract — as in Etruria, in Latium, 
and in Campania — separate systems of hills and mountains, 
volcanic in character, exist, and prevent the occurrence of any 
really extensive levels. The only exception to this general rule 
is in Apulia, where an extensive tract of plain is found about 
the Candelaro, Cervaro, and Ofanto rivers. 

The Rivers of Italy are exceedingly numerous ; but only 
one or two are of any considerable size. The great river is the 
Po (Padus), which, rising at the foot of Monte Viso, in lat. 44° 
40', long. 7°, nearly, drains almost the whole of the great north- 
ern plain, receiving above a hundred tributaries, and having 
a course which, counting only main windings, probably exceeds 
400 miles. The chief of its tributaries are the Duria (Dora 



2 70 RAWLIXSOX 

Baltea). the Ticinus (Ticino), the Addua (Adda), the OlHus 
(Oglio). and the Mincius (^lincio), from the north ; from the 
south, the Tanarus (Tanaro), the Trebia (Trebbia). the Tarns 
(Taro), the Secia (^Secchia), the Scultenna (^Panaro), and the 
Rhenus (Reno). The next most important of the Italian rivers 
is the Atliesis. or Adige, which, rising in the Tyrolean Alps, 
flows southward nearly to \'erona ; after which, curv'ing round, 
it rans parallel \\-ith the Po into the Adriatic. Both these rivers 
are beyond the limits of the Peninsula proper. \\'ithin those 
Hmits the chief streams are tlie Amus, Tiber, Liris, \'ultumus, 
and Silarus on the western side of the Apennines ; the ^-Esis, 
Atemus, Tifemus, Frento, Cerbalus, and Aufidus to the east 
of those moimtains. 

Italy possesses a fair number of lakes. Most of these 
lie towards the north, on the skirts of the Alps, at the 
point where the moimtains sink do^\Ti into the plain. The 
chief are the Benacus (Lago di Garda), between Lombardy 
and \'enetia, the Se^'inus (Lago d' Iseo), the Larius (Lago di 
Como), the Ceresius (Lago di Lugano), the Verbanus (Lago 
Maggiore), and the Lago d' Orta, which is unnoticed by the 
ancients. There is one important lake, the Lacus Fucinus; in 
the Central Apennine region. In Etruria are the Trasimenus 
(Lago di Perugia), the \'olsiniensis (Lago di Bolsena), and the 
Sabatinus (Lago di Bracciano). Besides these, there are nu- 
merous lagoons on the sea-coast, especially in the neighbor- 
hood of \'enice, and several mountain tarns of small size, but 
of great beaut\'. 

The Italian Islands are, from their size, their fertility, and 
their mineral treasures, peculiarly important. They constitute 
nearly one-fourth of the whole area of the countr}\ Sicily is 
exceedmgly productive both in com and in wine of an excellent 
quaht}-. Sardinia and Corsica are rich in minerals. Even the 
little island of Elba (Ilva) is valuable for its iron. Sicily and 
the Lipari isles }-ield abundance of sulphur. 

The only Natural Division of Italy is into Northern and 
Southern — the former comprising the plain of the Po and the 
mountains inclosing it, so far as they are Italian ; the latter 
coextensive \\-ith the Peninsula proper. It is usual, however, 
to di\dde the peninsula itself artificially into two portions by 



ANCIENT HISTORY 271 

a line dra\%Ti across it from the mouth of the Silarus to that of 
the Tifemus. In this way a triple division of Italy is produced : 
and the three parts are then called Northern, Central, and 
Southern. It will be convenient to enumerate the countries 
into which Italy was anciently parcelled out under the three 
heads furnished by this latter division. 

Northern Italy contained, in the most ancient times to which 
history goes back, the three countries of Liguria, Upper 
Etruria, and \'enetia. After a while, part of Liguria and al- 
most the whole of Upper Etruria were occupied bv Gallic 
immigrants; and, the boundar}--lines being to some extent 
changed, there still remained in this large and important tract 
tliree countries only, viz., Liguria, Venetia, and Gallia Cisal- 
pina; the last-named having, as it were, taken the place of 
Upper Etruria. 

Liguria was the tract at the extreme west of Northern Italy. 
Before the Gallic invasion it probably reached to the Pennine 
and Graian Alps ; but in later times it was regarded as bounded 
on the north by the Po, on the west by the Alps from Monte 
\'iso (A'esulus) southv.ard. on the south by the Mediterranean, 
and on the east by the river Macra. It was a countr}- almost 
entirely mountainous ; for spurs from the Alps and Apen- 
nines occupy the whole tract bet\veen the mountain-ranges 
and the river Po, as far down as long. 9". Ligiu^ derived its 
name from its inhabitants, the Ligures or Lig}-es, a race who 
once occupied the entire coast from below the mouth of the 
Amo to Massilia. Its chief to%\-ns were Genua (Genoa), Nicae 
(Nice), and Asta (Asti). 

\"enetia was at the opposite side, or extreme east, of North 
Italv. It is difficult to say what were its original or natural 
limits. From the earliest times of which we have any knowl- 
edge, the \'eneti were always encroached upon, first by the 
Etruscans and then by the Gauls, until a mere comer of North 
Italy still remained in their possession. This comer lay be- 
tween Histria on the one side, and the Lesser Medaucus upon 
the other : southward it extended to the Adriatic Sea, north- 
ward to the flanks of the Alps. It was a tract of country for the 
most part exceedingly flat, well watered by streams flo'^ing 
from the Alps, and fertile. The chief cit\- in ancient times was 



272 RAWLINSON 

Patavium, on the Lesser Meduacus ; but this place was after- 
wards eclipsed by Aquileia. 

The Etruscan state, which the Gauls conquered, was a con- 
federacy of twelve cities, whose territory reached from the 
Ticinus on the west to the Adriatic and the mouths of the Po 
upon the east. Among its cities were Melpum, Mediolanum 
(Milan), Mantua, Verona, Hatria, and Felsina or Bononia. 
Northward it was bounded by the Alps, southward by the 
Apennines and the course of the Utis, or perhaps by that of 
the Rubicon. When the Gauls made their conquests they 
overstepped these boundaries, taking from the Ligurians all 
their territory north of the Padus, and perhaps some to the 
south, about Placentia and Parma, encroaching on the Veneti 
towards the east, and southward advancing into Umbria. Thus 
Gallia Cisalpina had larger limits than had belonged to North 
Etruria. It was bounded on the north and west by the Alps ; 
on the south by Liguria, the main chain of the Apennines, and 
the ^sis river ; on the east by the Adriatic and Venetia. The 
whole tract, except in some swampy districts, was richly fertile. 
While it remained Gallic, it was almost without cities. The 
Gauls lived, themselves, in open unwalled villages, and suf- 
fered most of the Etruscan towns to fall to decay. Some, as 
Melpum, disappeared. A few maintained themselves as Etrus- 
can, in a state of semi-independence ; e. g., Mantua and Verona. 
In Roman times, however, the country was occupied by a 
number of most important cities, chiefly Roman colonies. 
Among these were, in the region south of the Po, Placentia, 
Parma, Mutina (now Modena), Bononia (now Bologna), Ra- 
venna, and Ariminium (now Rimini) ; and across the river to 
the north of it, Augusta Taurinorum (Turin), Ticinum (Pavia), 
Mediolanum (Milan), Brixia (Brescia), Cremona, Mantua, 
Verona, and Vincentia (now Vicenza). 

Central Italy, or the upper portion of the Peninsula proper, 
comprised six countries — Etruria, Latium, and Campania 
towards the west ; Umbria, Picenum, and the Sabine territory 
(which had no general name) towards the east. These coun- 
tries included the three most important in Italy, viz., Latium, 
Etruria, and the territory of the Sabines. 

Etruria, or Tyrrhenia (as it was called by the Greeks), was 



ANCIENT HISTORY 273 

the tract immediately south and west of the northern Apen- 
nines, interposed between that chain and the Mediterranean. 
It was bounded on the north by Liguria and Galha Cisalpina ; 
on the east by Umbria and the old Sabine country ; on the west 
by the Mediterranean Sea ; and on the south by Latium. The 
Hne of separation between it and the rest of the continent was 
very marked, being first the strong chain of the Apennines, 
and then, almost from its source, the river Tiber. Etruria was 
watered by two main streams, the Arnus (Arno), and the Clanis 
(Chiana), a tributary of the Tiber. It was for the most part 
mountainous, consisting in its northern and eastern portions 
of strong spurs thrown off from the Apennines, and in its south- 
ern and western, of a separate system of rocky hills, ramifying 
irregularly, and reaching from the valleys of the Arnus and 
Clanis very nearly to the coast. The little level land which it 
contained was along the courses of the rivers and near the 
sea-shore. The soil was generally rich, but in places marshy. 
The country contained three important lakes. The original 
Etrurian state consisted of a confederacy of twelve cities, among 
which were certainly Volsinii, Tarquinii, Vetulonium, Perusia, 
and Clusium; and probably Volaterrse, Arretium, Rusellae, 
Veii, and Agylla or Caere. Other important towns were Pisse 
(Pisa), and Faesulae (Fiesole), north of the Arnus ; Populonia 
and Cosa, on the coast between the Arnus and the Tiber ; Cor- 
tona in the Clanis valley; and Falerii near the Tiber, about 
eighteen miles north of Veii. 

Latium lay below Etruria, on the left bank of the Tiber. 
It was bounded on the north by the Tiber, the Anio, and the 
Upper Liris rivers ; on the west and south by the Mediter- 
ranean; on the east by the Lower Liris and a spur of the- 
Apennines. These, however, were not its original limits, but 
those whereto it ultimately attained. Anciently many non- 
Latin tribes inhabited portions of the territory. The Volsci 
held the isolated range of hills reaching from near Praeneste 
to the coast at Tarracina or Anxur. The ^qui were in pos- 
session of the Mons Algidus, and of the mountain-range be- 
tween Praeneste and the Anio. The Hernici were located in 
the valley of the Trerus, a tributary of the Liris. On the Lower 
Liris were established the Ausones. The nation of the Latins 
18 



274 



RAWLINSON 



formed, we are told, a confederacy of thirty cities, Alba having 
originally the pre-eminency. Among the thirty the most im- 
portant were the following: — Tibur, Gabii, Praeneste, Tuscu- 
lum, Velitrse, Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Lavinium, Ardea, 
Antium, Circeii, Anxur or Tarracina, Setia, Norba, and Satri- 
cum. Latium was chiefly a low plain, but diversified towards 
the north by spurs from the Apennines, in the centre and 
towards the south by two important ranges of hills. One of 
these, known as " the Volscian range," extends in a continuous 
line from near Praeneste to Tarracina ; the other, which is quite 
separate and detached, rises out of the plain between the Vols- 
cian range and the Tiber, and is known as " the Alban range," 
or the " Mons Algidus." Both are in the western part of the 
country. The eastern is comparatively a flat region. Here 
were Anagnia, the old capital of the Hernici, Arpinum, Fregel- 
lae, Aquinum, Interamna ad Lirim ; and, on the coast, Lantulae, 
Fundi, Formiae, Minturnae, and Vescia. 

Campania in its general character very much resembled 
Latium, but the isolated volcanic hills which here diversified 
the plain were loftier and placed nearer the coast. To the 
extreme south of the country a strong spur ran out from the 
Apennines terminating in the promontory of Minerva, the 
southern protection of the Bay of Naples. Campania extended 
along the coast from the Liris to the Silarus, and reached in- 
land to the more southern of the two Apennine ranges, which, 
separating a little below Lake Fucinus, reunite at Compsa. 
The plain country was all rich, especially that about Capua. 
Among the principal Campanian towns were Capua, the cap- 
ital, Nola and Teanum in the interior, and upon the coast Sin- 
uessa, Cumae, PuteoH, Parthenope, or Neapolis, Herculaneum, 
Pompeii, Surrentum, Salernum, and Picentia. 

Umbria lay east of Etruria, from which it was separated, 
first by the range of the Apennines, and then by the river 
Tiber. It was bounded on the north by Gallia Cisalpina ; on 
the east and south-east by Picenum and the Sabine country; 
on the south-west and west by Etruria. Before the invasion of 
the Gauls it reached as far north as the Rubicon, and included 
all the Adriatic coast between that stream and the ^sis ; but 
after the coming of the Senones this tract was lost, and Umbria 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



275 



was shut out from the sea. The Umbrian territory was almost 
wholly mountainous, consisting, as it did, chiefly of the main 
chain of the Apennines, together with the spurs on either side 
of the chain, from the source of the Tiber to the junction with 
the Tiber of the Nar. Some rich plains, however, occurred 
in the Tiber and Lower Nar valleys. The chief towns of 
Umbria were Iguvium, famous for its inscriptions ; Sentinum, 
the scene of the great battle with the Gauls and Samnites ; 
Spoletium (now Spoleto) ; Interamna (now Terni) ; and Nar- 
nia (Narni), which, though on the left bank of the Nar, was 
still reckoned to Umbria. 

Picenum extended along the coast of the Adriatic from the 
^sis to the Matrinus (Piomba) river. It was composed mainly 
of spurs from the Apennines, but contained along the coast 
some flat and fertile country. The chief towns were Ancona, 
on the coast, Firnum (Ferno), Asculum Picenum (Ascoli), and 
Hadria (Atri), in the interior. 

The territory of the Sabine races, in which Picenum ought 
perhaps to be included, was at once the most extensive and 
the most advantageously situated of all the countries of Central 
Italy. In length, from the Mons Fiscellus (Monte Rotondo) 
to the Mons Vultur (Monte Vulture), it exceeded 200 miles ; 
while in breadth it reached very nearly from sea to sea, bor- 
dering the Adriatic from the Matrinus to the Tifernus rivers, 
and closely approaching the Mediterranean in the vicinity of 
Salernum. In the north it comprised all the valleys of the 
Upper Nar and its tributaries, together with a portion of the 
valley of the Tiber, the plain country south and east of Lake 
Fucinus, and the valleys of the Suinus and Aternus rivers. 
Its central mass was made up of the valleys of the Sagrus, 
Trinius, and Tifernus, together with the mountain-ranges be- 
tween them ; while southward it comprised the whole of the 
great Samnite upland drained by the Vulturnus, and its tribu- 
taries. The territory had many distinct political divisions. 
The north-western tract, about the Nar and Tiber, reaching 
from the main chain of the Apennines to the Anio, was the 
country of the old Sabines (Sabini), the only race to which 
that name is applied by the ancient writers. East and south- 
east of this region, the tract about Lake Fucinus, and the val- 



276 RAWLINSON 

leys of the Suinus and Aternus rivers, were in the possession 
of the League of the Four Cantons, the Marsi, Marrucini, 
PeHgni, and Vestini, who probably were Sabine races. Still 
farther to the east, the valleys of the Sagrus and Trinius, and 
the coast tract from Ortona to the Tifernus, formed the coun- 
try of the Frentani. South and south-east of this was Sam- 
nium, comprising the high upland, the main chain of the 
Apennines, and the eastern flank of that chain for a certain 
distance. The chief of the Sabine towns were Reate on the 
Velinus, a tributary of the Nar; Teate and Aternum on the 
Aternus; Marrubium on Lake Fucinus; and Beneventum 
and Bovianum in Samnium. 

Southern Italy, or the tract below the Tifernus and Silarus 
rivers, contained four countries — on the west, Lucania and 
Bruttium; on the east, Apulia and Messapia, or, as it was 
sometimes called, lapygia. The entire number of distinct coun- 
tries in ancient Italy was thus thirteen. 

Lucania extended along the west coast of Italy from the 
Silarus to the Laiis river. Its boundary on the north was 
formed by the Silarus, the chain of the Apennines from Compsa 
to the Mons Vultur, and the course of the Bradanus (Bran- 
dano). Eastward, its border was the shore of the Tarentine 
Gulf; southward, where it adjoined Bruttium, the line of de- 
marcation ran from the Lower Laiis across the mountains to 
the Crathis, or river of Thurii. The country was both pict- 
uresque and fertile, diversified by numerous spurs from the 
Apennine range, and watered by a multitude of rivers. It had 
few native cities of any importance ; but the coasts were thickly 
occupied by Grecian settlements of great celebrity. Among 
these were, on the west coast, Posidonia or Psestum, Elea or 
Velia, Pyxus or Buxentum, and Laiis ; on the east, Metapon- 
tum, Heracleia, Pandosia, Siris, Sybaris, and Thurii. 

Bruttium adjoined Lucania on the south, and was a country 
very similar in character. Its chief native city was Consentia, 
in the interior, near the sources of the Crathis river. On the 
western coast were the Greek towns of Temesa, Terina, Hip- 
ponium, and Rhegium ; on the eastern those of Croton, Cau- 
lonia, and Locri. 

Apulia lay entirely on the eastern coast, adjoining Samnium 



ANCIENT HISTORY 277 

upon the west, and separated from the country of the Frentani 
by the Tifernus river. The range of the Apennines, extending 
from the Mons Vuhur eastward as far as long. 17° 40', divided 
it from lapygia. ApuHa differed from all the other countries 
of the Peninsula proper in being almost wholly a plain. Ex- 
cept in the north-west corner of the province, no spurs of any 
importance here quit the Apennines, but from their base ex- 
tends a vast and rich level tract, from twenty to forty miles wide, 
intersected by numerous streams, and diversified towards its 
more eastern portion by a number of lakes. The tract is espe- 
cially adapted for the grazing of cattle. Among its rivers are 
the Aufidus, on the banks of which Cannae was fought, the Cer- 
balus, and the river of Arpi. The only mountainous part of 
Apulia is the north and north-west, where the Apennines send 
down to the coast two strongly-marked spurs, one between 
the Tifernus and the Frento rivers, the other, east of the Frento, 
a still stronger and more important range, which running 
towards the north-east reaches the coast, and forms the well- 
known rocky promontory of Garganum. The chief cities of 
Apulia were Larinum, near the Tifernus ; Luceria, Sipontum, 
and Arpi, north of the Cerbalus ; Salapia, between the Cer- 
balus and Aufidus ; and Canusium, Cannae, and Venusia, south 
of that river. It was usual to divide Apulia into two regions, 
of which the north-western was called Daunia, the south-east- 
ern Peucetia. 

Messapia, or lapygia, lay south and east of Apulia, compris- 
ing the entire long promontory which has been called the 
" heel " of Italy, and a triangular tract between the east Apen- 
nine range and the river Bradanus. Towards the east it was 
low and flat, full of numerous small lakes, and without impor- 
tant rivers ; westward it was diversified by numerous ranges 
of hills, spurs from the Apulian Apennines, which sheltered 
it upon the north and rendered it one of the softest and most 
luxurious of the Italian countries. The most important of the 
lapygian cities was Taras, or Tarentum, the famous Lacedae- 
monian colony. Other Greek settlements were CallipoHs (now 
Gallipoli), and Hydrus or Hydruntum (now Otranto). The 
chief native town was Brundusium. 

The geography of Italy is incomplete without a description 



2 78 RAWLINSON 

of the principal islands. These were three in number, Sicily, 
Sardinia, and Corsica. There were also numerous islets along 
the western and a few off the eastern coast, which will require 
a very brief notice. 

Sicily, which is estimated to contain about ten thousand 
square miles, is an irregular triangle, the sides of which face 
respectively the north, the east, and the south-west. None of 
the coasts is much indented; but of the three, the northern 
has the most noticeable bays and headlands. Here are the 
gulfs of Castel-a-]\Iare, Palermo, Patti, and JNlilazzo ; the head- 
lands of Trapani (Drepanum), Capo St. Vito, Capo di Gallo, 
Capo Zaffarana, Capo Orlando, Capo Calava, and Capo Bianco. 
The south-western, and most of the eastern, shores run in 
smooth lines ; but towards the extreme south-east of the island 
there is a fair amount of indentation. Good harbors are nu- 
merous. The most remarkable are those of Messana and Syra- 
cuse, the former protected by a curious curved strip of land, 
resembling a sickle, whence the old name of Zancle ; the latter 
rendered secure in all winds by the headland of Plemmyrium 
and the natural breakwater of Ortygia. There are also excel- 
lent ports at Lilyba^um and Panormus (Palermo). The moun- 
tain system of Sicily consists of a main chain, the continuation 
of the Bruttian Apennines (Aspromonte), which traverses the 
island from east to west, beginning near Messina (Messana) 
and terminating at Cape Drepanum. This main chain, known 
in its different parts by various names, throws off, about mid- 
way in its course, a strong spur, which strikes south-east and 
terminates in Cape Pachynus (Passaro). Thus the island is 
divided by its mountain system into three tracts of comparative 
lowland — a narrow tract facing northward between the main 
chain and the north coast ; a long and broad tract facing the 
southwest, bounded on the north by the western half of the 
main chain, and on the east by the spur ; and a broad but com- 
paratively short tract facing the east, bounded on the west by 
the spur, and on the north by the eastern half of the main chain. 
In none of these lowlands, however, is there really much flat 
country. Towards the north and towards the south-west, both 
the main chain and the spur throw off numerous branches, 
which occupy almost the whole country between the rivers; 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



279 



while towards the cast, where alone are there any extensive 
plains, volcanic action has thrown up the separate and inde- 
pendent mountain of Etna, which occupies with its wide- 
spreading roots almost one-third of what should naturally have 
been lowland. Thus Sicily, excepting in the tract between 
Etna and Syracuse, where the famous " Piano di Catania " ex- 
tends itself, is almost entirely made up of mountain and valley, 
and, in a military point of view, is an exceedingly strong and 
difficult country. Its chief rivers are the Simsethus on the east, 
which drains nearly the whole of the great plain ; the Himcra 
and Halycus on the south ; and the Hypsa, near the extreme 
south-west corner. The only important native town was Enna, 
nearly in the centre of the island; all the other cities of any 
note were settlements of foreigners ; Eryx and Egesta, or 
Segesta, of the Trojans ( ?) ; Lilybaeum, Motya, Panormus, 
and Soloeis, or Soluntum, of the Carthaginians ; Himera, Mes- 
sana, Tauromenium, Naxos, Catana, Megara Hyblsea, Syra- 
cuse, Camarina, Gela, Agrigentum, and Selinus, of the Greeks. 
Sardinia, which modern surveys show to be larger than 
Sicily, has an area of probably about 11,000 square miles. It 
is an oblong parallelogram, the sides of which may be viewed 
roughly as facing the four cardinal points, though in reality 
the south side has a slight inclination towards the east, and the 
north side a stronger one towards the west. Though less 
mountainous than either Sicily or Corsica, Sardinia is traversed 
by an important chain which runs parallel with the eastern and 
western shores, but nearer the former, from Cape Lungo-Sar- 
do on the north to Cape Carbonara at the extreme south of 
the island. This chain throws out numerous short branch 
ranges on either side, which cover nearly the whole of the east- 
ern half of the island. The western half has three separate 
mountain-clusters of its own. One, the smallest, is at the ex- 
treme north-west corner of the island, between the Gulfs of 
Asinara and Alghero ; another, three or four times larger, fills 
the south-western corner, reaching from Cape Spartivento to 
the Gulf of Oristano. Both these are, like the main range, of 
primary (granitic) formation. The third cluster, which is in- 
terposed between the two others, occupying the whole tract 
extending northward from the Gulf of Oristano and the river 



28o RAWLINSON 

Tirso to the coast between the Turrilano and Coguinas rivers, 
is much the largest of the three, and is of comparatively recent 
volcanic formation. These mountain-clusters, together with 
the main range, occupy by far the greater portion of the island. 
They still, however, leave room for some important plains, as 
especially that of Campidano on the south, which stretches 
across from the Gulf of Cagliari to that of Oristano ; that of 
Ozieri on the north, on the upper course of the Coguinas ; and 
that of Sassari in the north-west, which reaches across 
the isthmus from Alghero to Porto Torres. Sardinia is 
fairly fertile, but has always been noted for its malaria. Its 
chief river was the Thyrsus (Tirso). The principal cities were 
Caralis (Cagliari), on the south coast, in the bay of the same 
name ; Sulci, at the extreme south-west of the island, opposite 
the Insula Plumbaria ; Neapolis, in the Gulf of Asinara ; and 
Olbia, towards the north-eastern end of the island. There was 
no city of any importance in the interior. 

Corsica, situated directly to the north of Sardinia, was more 
mountainous and rugged than either of the other two great 
islands. A strong mountain-chain ran through the island from 
north to south, culminating towards the centre in the Mons 
Antseus (Monte Rotondo). Numerous branch ranges inter- 
sected the country on either side of the main chain, rendering 
the entire region one of constant mountain and valley. Streams 
were numerous ; but the limits of the island were too narrow 
for them, to attain any considerable size. The chief town was 
Alalia (afterwards Aleria), a colony of the Phocseans. Besides 
this, the only places of any importance were Mariana, on the 
east coast, above Alalia, Centurimum (now Centuri), on the 
west side of the northern promontory, Urcinium on the west 
coast (now Ajaccio), and Talcinum (now Corte) in the interior. 

The lesser islands adjacent to Italy were Ilva (Elba), be- 
tween northern Corsica and the main-land ; Igilium (Giglio) 
and Dianium (Giannuti), opposite the Mons Argentarius in 
Etruria ; Palmaria, Pontia, Sinonia, and Pandataria, ofif Anxur ; 
Pithecussa (Ischia), Prochyta (Procida), and Caprese (Capri), 
in the Bay of Naples ; Strongyle (Stromboli), Euonymus (Pan- 
aria), Lipara (Lipari), Vulcania (Volcano), Didyme (Salina), 
Phoenicussa (Felicudi), Ericussa (Alicudi), and Ustica, off the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 281 

north coast of Sicily ; the -Agates Insulae, off the western point 
of the same island ; the Choerades Insulae, off Tarentum ; and 
Trimetus (Tremiti) in the Adriatic, north of the Mons Gar- 
ganus. 

On the geography of Italy, the most important works are — 

Cluverius, " Italia Antiqua." Lugd. Bat., 1624; 2 vols, folio. 

Romanelli, " Antica Topografia istorica del Regno di Napoli." 
Napoli, 1815; 3 vols. 4to. 

Mannert, K., " Geographic der Griechen und Romer aus ihren Schrif- 
ten dargestellt." Leipzig, 1801-29; 10 vols. 8vo. 

Swinburne, H., " Travels in the Two Sicilies in the Years 1777-80." 
London, 1783-85; 2 vols. 4to. 

Dennis, G., " Cities and Cemeteries of the Etruscans." London, 1848; 
2 vols. 8vo. 

Abeken, " Mittel-Italien vor den Zeiten Romischer Herrschaft." 
Stuttgart, 1843; 8vo. 

Cramer, " Geographical and Historical Description of Ancient Italy." 
Oxford, 1826; 2 vols. 8vo. 



SKETCH OF THE HISTORY. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

The Ancient Traditional History from the Earliest Times to 
the Commencement of the Republic, B.C. 508.* 

Italy was inhabited, at the earliest times to which our knowl- 
edge carries us back, by five principal races. These were the 
Ligurians, the Venetians, the Etruscans, the Italians proper, 
and the lapygians. The Ligurians and Venetians may have 
been branches of one stock, the Illyrian ; but there is no suffi- 

* Sources. Native. — A few fragments of the " Fasti Triumphales " be- 
long to this early period; but such knowledge of it as we possess is 
derived mainly from the works of historians. Among these the first 
place must be assigned to the fragments of the early Annalists, espe- 
cially of Q. Fabius Pictor, many of which are preserved in Dionysius 
of Halicarnassus. The most copious native writer on the period is Livy, 
who delivers an account of it in his First Book. Other native authori- 
ties are Cicero, who has sketched the constitutional history of the period 
in his treatise " De Republica " (book ii.), and Florus, who has briefly 
epitomized it. The portion of Velleius Paterculus which treated of the 
time is almost entirely lost. No lives of Nepos touch on it. Many 



282 RAWLINSON 

cient evidence to prove this connection. They were weak and 
unimportant races, confined to narrow regions in the north, 
and without any influence on the general history of Italy. Set- 
ting them aside, therefore, for the present, we may confine our 
attention to the three other races. 

The lapygians were probably among the earliest settlers. 
The heel of Italy, which stretches out towards Greece, invites 
colonization from that quarter; and it would seem that at a 
very remote date a stream of settlers passed across the narrow 
sea from the Hellenic to the Italic peninsula, and landing on 
the lapygian promontory spread themselves northward and 
westward over the greater portion of the foot of Italy. The 
language of the race in question remains in numerous inscrip- 
tions which have been discovered in the Terra di Otranto, and 
shows them to have been nearly connected with the Greeks. 
Their worship of Greek gods, and the readiness with which, at 
a later date, they became actually Hellenized, point in the same 
direction. We have reason to conclude that a race kindred with 
the Greeks held in the early times the greater part of Southern 
Italy, which was thus prepared for the later more positively 
Hellenic settlements. To this stock appear to have belonged 
the Messapians, Peucetians, Qinotrians, the Chaones or 
Chones, and perhaps the Daunii. 

The Italians proper, who in the historical times occupy with 
their numerous tribes almost the whole of Central Italy, appear 
to have been later in-comers than the lapygians, to have 
proceeded from the north, and to have pressed with great 
weight on the semi-Greek population of the southern regions. 
They comprised, apparently, four principal subordinate races ; 
viz., the Umbrians, the Sabines, the Oscans, and the Latins. 

allusions to it are contained, however, in the works of the poets and 
grammarians, as Ovid (" Fasti "), Virgil (" ^neid," book vi.), Servius 
("ad. ^neid."), Festus, and others. Foreign. — The Greek writers are 
fuller on the early history than the Roman. The most important of 
them is Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in whose work (" Archaeologia Ro- 
mana;" ed. Reiske. Lipsias, 1774-77; 6 vols. 8vo) the ante-regal and 
regal periods occupy the first four books. Next to Dionysius may be 
placed Plutarch, whose Lives of Romulus, Numa, and Poplicola bear 
upon this portion of the history. The part of Diodorus Siculus which 
treated of the time (books vii.-x.) is lost, with the exception of a few 
brief fragments. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 283 

Of these the Umbrians and Oscans were very closely con- 
nected. The Latins were quite distinct. The Sabines are sus- 
pected to have been nearly allied to the Osco-Umbrians. 

The Tuscans or Etruscans, the most powerful nation of the 
north, differed in race completely from all the other inhabi- 
tants of Italy. It appears to be, on the whole, most probable 
that they were Turanians, of a type similar to that which is 
found in various parts of Europe — Lapps and Finns in the 
extreme north, Esthonians on the Baltic, Basques in Spain — 
remnants of a primitive population that once, we may suppose, 
overspread the whole of Europe. The original seat of the race, 
so far as it is traceable, seems to have been Rhsetia, or the 
country about the head-streams of the Rhine, the Inn, and the 
Adige. Their native name was Ras ; and this name, changed 
by the Italians into Rhaesi or Rhaeti, was long attached to the 
mountain region from which their hordes had issued. These 
hordes at a very remote time spread themselves over the plain 
of the Po from the Ticinus to beyond the Adige, and formed 
there, as we are told, a confederacy of twelve cities. After hav- 
ing flourished in this tract for an indefinite period, they over- 
flowed the mountain barrier to the south, and occupying the 
region between the northern Apennines and the Tiber, formed 
there a second, quite separate, confederacy, consisting, like the 
northern one, of twelve distinct states. Subsequently, but 
probably later than the period now under consideration, they 
passed the Tiber and established temporarily a dominion in 
Campania, where Capua and Nola were cities founded by them. 

There can be no doubt that the Romans belonged, at any 
rate predominantly, to the second of the three races who seem 
in the early times to have divided the peninsula among them — 
the race which has been here termed, kut e^o^VJ^, " Italic." 
They had, indeed, a tradition which connected them with a 
body of immigrants who were thought to have come by sea 
into Italy from the distant city of Troy, at a date which pre- 
ceded by nearly 500 years the building of the city. And this 
tradition was brought out into great prominence by writers 
of the Imperial times. But, whatever amount of truth we may 
suppose to be contained in the " story of ^neas," it is evident 
that the crews of a few vessels landing on a thickly-peopled 



284 RAWLINSON 

coast, and belonging to a race not much more civilized than 
that to which they came, could make but a very slight impres- 
sion on the previous population, in which they would be sure 
to be very soon swallowed up and absorbed. The Trojan col- 
ony to Latium is therefore, whether true or false, a matter of 
small consequence — it had no part in determining the ethnic 
character of the Roman people. 

Nor is there much difficulty in deciding to which of the 
branch races included here under the general name of " Italic," 
the Romans belonged. Language is the most certain indica- 
tion of race, and the language which the Romans spoke was 
Latin. Their own traditions connected the early city in a spe- 
cial way with Lavinium and Alba Longa; and these cities 
were universally allowed to have been two of the thirty Latin 
towns. To whatever extent the Romans were a mixed people 
— and that they were so to some extent is admitted by all — it 
is impossible to doubt that they were predominantly and es- 
sentially — not Oscans, not Sabines, much less Umbrians — but 
Latins. 

It is, however, far from easy to determine in what exact 
position the original Rome stood to the Latin stock. It is 
clear that she was not a mere Latin town, not one of the thirty. 
She stands in the early times of the monarchy quite outside 
the confederacy ; and a peculiar character belongs to her which 
is not simply and wholly Latin. The tradition which makes 
her foundation the spontaneous act of a band of adventurous 
young men, whose affection for the locality leads them to set 
up a new town, which is also a new state, on the spot where 
they have been wont to pasture their flocks, is at variance with 
the condition of Italy at the time, which was not a wilderness, 
with abundant waste land, whereon the first comer might set- 
tle, but a thickly-peopled country, where every inch of ground 
had an owner, or was disputed between neighboring tribes. 
If there be any truth at all in the account which has come down 
to us of the original settlement, that account must be a poeti- 
cised version of a very ordinary occurrence. The Latin towns 
were in the habit of extending or defending their territories by 
the establishment of colonies. Nothing is more easily con- 
ceivable than that the orisfinal Rome should have been a col- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 285 

ony from Alba Longa, planted in a strong though unhealthy 
position at the extreme verge of the territory, where it was 
threatened by the Tuscans upon the west and still more by the 
advancing Sabines towards the north. Rome herself was after- 
wards accustomed to plant her colonies in exactly such posi- 
tions. Among the various conjectures which critics have 
formed on the subject of the origin of Rome, that which re- 
gards her as a colony from Alba appears to be the most worthy 
of acceptance. 

But if Rome was originally a mere Alban dependency, it is 
certain that she did not long continue such. The first clearly 
marked fact in her history is her entrance into voluntary union 
with the natives of an adjacent Sabine settlement, an act which 
implies independence and the assertion of sovereignty. The 
colony must either previously have shaken off the yoke of the 
mother-city, or else must, in the very act of uniting herself 
with an alien people, have asserted autonomy. From the date 
of the (TvvotKi(TiJb6<i, if no earlier, Rome was, it is clear, a self- 
governing community. No power exercised control over her. 
She stood aloof from the Latin league, on terms which were 
at first rather hostile than friendly. Her position was unique 
among the states and cities of the period. The amalgamation 
of two bloods, two civilizations, two kindred, but still somewhat 
different, religious systems, produced a peculiar people — 
a people stronger than its neighbors, possessing wider views 
and sympathies, and more varied tastes — a people better calcu- 
lated -than its neighbors to form a nucleus round which the 
various tribes of the Italic stock might gather themselves. 

While the history of individuals at this remote period is 
wholly wanting — for such names as Romulus, Remus, Celer, 
Titus Tatius, and the like, cannot be regarded as having any 
thing more of historic substance than their parallels, Hellen, 
Dorus, Ion, Amyclas, Hoples, etc., the heroes eponymi of Greek 
legend — it is not impossible to trace out the early character 
of the government, the chief features of the constitution, the 
principal divisions and subdivisions of classes within the com- 
munity, and the rights and privileges attaching to each. Tra- 
dition is a trustworthy guide for certain main features ; analogy 
and analysis may be allowed to furnish others; for the laws 



286 RAWLINSON 

of the growth of states are sufficiently well known and suffi- 
ciently uniform to make it possible in most cases, where we 
have before us a full-grown constitution, to trace it back to 
its foundations, and gather a fair knowledge of its history from 
the form and character of its several parts. 

The known points of the early constitution are the follow- 
ing: — The form of government was monarchical. A chief, 
called " rex," i. e., " ruler," or " director," stood at the head 
of the state, exercising a great, though not an absolute, power 
over the citizens. The monarchy was not hereditary, but elec- 
tive. When the king died, there was an " interregnum." The 
direction of affairs was taken by the Senate or Council, whose 
ten chief men (" Decem Primi ") exercised the royal authority, 
each in his turn, for five days. It belonged to the Senate to 
elect, and to the people to confirm the king. Under the king 
was, first of all, an hereditary nobility (" patricii "), members 
of certain noble families, not deriving their nobility from the 
king, but possessing it by immemorial descent. These noble 
families or " houses " (" gentes ") were, prior to the (twolkkt- 
fio^, one hundred in number ; after the (rvvoLKiafjb6<i, two hun- 
dred. Each was represented by its chief in the council of the 
king (" senatus ") ; and thus the senators were originally one 
hundred, afterwards two hundred. All the members of a 
" house " had one name (" nomen gentilitium ") ; all might 
participate in certain sacred rites (" sacra gentilitia ") ; and 
all had certain rights of property in common. All the males 
of full age belonging to the nobility possessed the right of at- 
tending the public Assembly (" comitia "), where they voted in 
ten bodies (" curiae "), each composed of the members of ten 
" houses." Each curia had its chief, called " curio ; " and the 
Assembly was presided over by the chief of the ten ciiriones, 
who was called " Curio Maximus." Every change of law re- 
quired the consent of both the Senate and the Assembly. The 
Senate had the right of discussing and voting, but the Assembly 
had the right of voting only. The Assembly was also privi- 
leged to determine on peace or war ; and if one of its members 
appealed to it from the sentence of the king, or of a judge, 
it determined the appeal and condemned or acquitted at its 
pleasure. In addition to the members of the " gentes," the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 287 

early Roman state contained two other classes. These were 
the CHents and the Slaves. The Slaves resembled persons of 
their class in other communities ; but the Clients were a pe- 
culiar institution. They were dependents upon the noble 
" houses," and personally free, but possessed of no political 
privileges, and usually either cultivated the lands of their " pa- 
trons," or carried on a trade under their protection. They re- 
sembled to a considerable extent the " retainers " of the Middle 
Ages. 

Under this constitution, Rome flourished for a period which 
is somewhat vague and indefinite, without the occurrence of 
any important change. According to one tradition, a double 
monarchy was tried for a short time, in order that the two ele- 
ments of the state — the Roman and the Sabine (or the Ramnes 
and the Titles) — might each furnish a ruler from their own 
body. But the experiment was not tried for very long. In 
lieu of it, we may suspect that for a while the principle of alter- 
nation was employed, the Romans and the Sabines each in their 
turn furnishing a king to the community. 

The duplication of the community, which was thus percep- 
tible through all ranks, affected also to a considerable extent 
the national religion. Not only was there a duplication of the 
chief religious officers in consequence of the syncccismiis, but 
sometimes the duplication extended to the objects of worship, 
the deities themselves. Quirinus, for instance, seems to have 
been the Sabine Mars, worshipped, like the Latin Mars, by his 
own " Flamen " and college of " Salii." Juno was perhaps the 
Sabine equivalent of the Latin Diana, another form of the same 
name, but in the popular belief a different goddess. In the 
ranks of the hierarchy the duplication was more marked. It 
can be traced in the college of the Pontifices, in that of the 
Augurs, in that of the Vestal Virgins, in the priesthoods of 
Mars, and (probably) in the priesthood of Hercules. 

The names which tradition assigned to the early Roman 
monarchs seem to be fictitious. Romulus, Titus Tatius, and 
Numa Pompilius are personifications rather than personages. 
We first touch on personal history in the Roman records when 
we come to the name of Tullus Hostilius, the fourth, or, omit- 
ting Tatius, the third traditional king. There is every reason 



288 RAWLINSON 

to believe that this monarch actually lived and reigned; his 
name was the first that was handed down to posterity, owing 
to the fact that he was the first king who effected an important 
conquest, and raised Rome from a humble position to one of 
dignity and eminence. It is the great glory of Tullus that he 
conquered Alba Longa, the chief of the Latin cities, the mother- 
city of Rome itself. His conquest probably doubled, or even 
tripled, the Roman territory; it prepared the way for that 
hegemony of Rome over all Latium to which she owed her 
subsequent greatness ; and it largely increased the population 
of Rome, and the military strength of the nation. For Tullus 
was not content with a simple conquest. Following up the 
principle of synoccismus, which had already been found to an- 
swer, he destroyed Alba, except its temples, and transferred 
the inhabitants to his own capital. He thus greatly strength- 
ened the Latin element in the Roman state, and made the Sa- 
bines a mere modifying influence in a community essentially 
Latin, 

The next Roman king whose name has descended to us is 
Ancus Martins, who is said to have belonged to the Sabines 
or Titles. This monarch appears to have been regarded by the 
later Romans as the founder of the Plebeian order. He pur- 
sued the policy of Tullus both in making war on neighboring 
Latin towns, and in using his victories for the aggrandizement 
of his capital by transferring to Rome the populations of 
the conquered states. A portion of the new settlers undoubt- 
edly became Clients; but the richer and more independent 
would decline to take up this relationship, and would be con- 
tent with the protection of the king. Hence would come a 
sudden augmentation of that free commonalty, which must 
always grow up — out of various elements — in all states which 
commence, like Rome, with a privileged class of nobles, and 
a wholly unprivileged class of retainers or dependents. 

The time at which it becomes necessary, or expedient, in such 
a community as the Roman, to recognize the existence of the 
commonalty in a formal way, by the grant of political or 
municipal rights, varies with circumstances within very wide 
limits. At Rome the recognition took place early, matters 
coming rapidly to a head in consequence of the quick growth 



ANCIENT HISTORY 289 

of the territory, and especially of the practice, which the kings 
pursued, of removing large masses of the conquered popula- 
tions to their capital. If, as we are told, Ancus gave up the 
entire Avcntine Hill, previously uninhabited, to his new set- 
tlers, thus assigning to their exclusive occupation a distinct 
quarter of the capital, municipal institutions must have been 
at the same time granted, for a whole quarter of a town cannot 
be surrendered to anarchy. The " Plcbs " must at once have 
had " sediles," if not " tribunes ; " and a machinery must have 
been established for their election, since nomination by the 
monarch is not to be thought of. But of the details of An- 
cus's regulations, whatever they were, we have no knowledge, 
the later arrangements of Servius having not only superseded 
but obliterated them. 

Among the other acts assigned to Ancus Martins, the most 
important are, the extension of the Roman territory to the 
sea, and the establishment of the port of Ostia ; the construc- 
tion of salt-pans {salina) in its neighborhood ; the erection of 
the " pons sublicius," or " bridge of piles," across the Tiber, 
and the occupation of the Janiculan Hill by a strong fort, or 
tcte du pmit; the draining of some of the low land about the 
Seven Hills by the " Fossa Quiritium," and the construction 
of the first prison. It would seem that civilization was advanc- 
ing with both its advantages and its drawbacks — trade, manu- 
factures, and engineering skill on the one hand ; on the other, 
crime and its repression. 

The next known king of Rome is L. Tarquinius Priscus. 
According to the tradition, he was a refugee from the Etruscan 
town of Tarquinii ; according to the evidence furnished by his 
name and by his acts, he was a Latin, probably belonging to 
one of the noble " houses " from Alba. Two important consti- 
tutional changes are attributed to him. He raised the ideal 
number of the Senate from two hundred to three hundred, by 
adding to it the representatives of the " Gentes Minores," or 
" Younger Houses " — who can scarcely be different from the 
" houses " adopted into the Patrician body from among the 
nobles of Alba. If he were himself a member of one of these 
" houses," his act would, it is clear, have been thoroughly 
natural. He " doubled the equestrian centuries," or, in other 

19 



290 RAWLINSON 

words, the actual number of the Patrician " houses." The 
" houses " had, apparently, so dwindled, that instead of the 
ideal number of three hundred, the actual number was but one 
hundred and fifty, or thereabouts. Tarquin proposed to add 
one hundred and fifty new " houses " from among the nobles 
who had settled at Rome after the addition of the Albans ; these 
he proposed to add in three new tribes, which were to stand 
side by side with the three old tribes of the Ramnes, Titles, and 
Luceres. Opposed by the Patricians, who put forward the 
augur, Attus Navius, as objector, he yielded so far as to create 
no new tribes ; but still he added the new " houses " in three 
new half-tribes, attaching them to the old Ramnes, Titles, and 
Luceres, but on terms of slight inferiority. 

The wars of Tarquinius Priscus were also of importance. 
He repulsed a fierce attack of the Sabines, who had crossed 
the Anio and threatened Rome itself. He then attacked the 
Latin towns on the Upper Tiber and in the angle between the 
Tiber and the Anio, and reduced all of them except Nomen- 
tum. Anteninge, Crustumerium, Ficulea or Ficulnea, Medul- 
lia, Caenina, Corniculum, and Cameria were among his con- 
quests. After this, towards the close of his reign, he engaged 
in a war, on the other side of the Tiber, with the Etruscans, 
and gained important successes. 

Tarquinius Priscus was distinguished among the kings of 
Rome for the number and the character of his great works. 
To him is ascribed by the best authorities the Cloaca Maxima, 
the most remarkable monument now existing of the regal 
period, a construction of the grandest and most massive de- 
scription. Connected with the Cloaca, and undoubtedly the 
work of the same builder, was a strong and solid quay along 
the left bank of the Tiber, which checked the natural inclina- 
tion of the river to flow ofT on that side and to inundate the 
low lands about the Palatine and Capitoline Hills. Tarquin 
further constructed for the entertainment of the people a " Cir- 
cus," or race-course, known as the " Circus Maximus ; " and 
he also designed and commenced the great Temple of Jove, 
on the Capitoline Hill, which was completed by the last mon- 
arch. 

Tarquinius Priscus appears to have been succeeded in the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



291 



kingdom by Scrvius Tullius. According to the account which 
has most verisimiHtude, Servius was an Etruscan, one of a body 
of mercenaries whom Tarquin had employed and had settled 
in his capital. He took advantage of his position about the 
monarch's person to conceal his death for a time, and act in 
his name ; after which he boldly threw ofif the mask, and 
openly usurped the throne. Having gained considerable suc- 
cesses against the Etruscans, he felt himself strong enough 
to devise and carry through a complete change of the consti- 
tution. Hitherto, the whole political power, except that wield- 
ed by the king, had been engrossed by the noble " Houses." 
Servius determined to admit all ranks of freemen to the fran- 
chise. Taking the existing arrangements of the army as a 
groundwork, he constructed a new Assembly {comitia cen- 
turiata), in which all free Romans found a place. Dividing 
the citizens into " classes " according to the amount of their 
property, he then subdivided the " classes " into a larger or 
smaller number of '' centuries " according to the aggregate 
of the property possessed by the " class ; " and to each century, 
whatever the number of the persons composing it, he gave 
a single vote. The result was that a decidedly preponderating 
power was given to the richer classes; but if they differed 
among themselves, the poorer classes came in and decided the 
point in dispute. 

Another important institution ascribed by good authority to 
the reign of Servius is that of the local tribes. Hitherto the 
only " tribes " in Rome had been those of the Patrician order 
— the Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres — which were hereditary, 
and had no connection with localities. Servius divided the 
city into four, and the territory probably into twenty-six dis- 
tricts, and formed the land-owners within every such district 
into a tribe. Each tribe had the right of meeting and appoint- 
ing its own " tribunus," its " gedilis," and probably its " ju- 
dex " or " judices." It is doubtful whether the whole body 
of the tribes had at first the right of meeting together in one 
place ; but ultimately the right was asserted and exercised, the 
meeting-place for the whole body being the forum at Rome. 
Here were held the " comitia tributa," which were not, per- 
haps, exclusively Plebeian, but which came to be so regarded 



292 



RAWLINSON 



from the great preponderance of the Plebeians in the class of 
land-owners. The original object of Servius in creating this 
organization was perhaps, as much as anything, the assess- 
ment and collection of the property-tax (tribntimi), which the 
tribunes had to levy, collect, and pay into the treasury. He 
may also, however, have aimed at contenting the mass of the 
Plebeians, by intrusting them to a considerable extent with the 
power of self-government. 

Servius is also said to have made an allotment of land out of 
the public domain to needy Plebeians — an act which greatly 
exasperated the Patricians, who had hitherto enjoyed all the 
advantage to be derived from such land by means of their 
right of occupation (possessio). The land allotted appears to 
have lain on the right bank of the Tiber, consisting of tracts 
which had been ceded by the Etruscans after their defeat. 

According to some authors, it was likewise this king who 
raised Rome externally into a new and most important posi- 
tion, getting her to be acknowledged as actual head of the 
entire Latin confederacy, or at any rate of all but few recal- 
citrant towns, such as Gabii. This position was undoubtedly 
held by Rome at the close of the monarchy ; and it may have 
been first assumed in the reign of Servius. The position was 
not exactly that which had been occupied by Alba. Alba had 
been one of the thirty cities, exercising a presidency over her 
sister states, which gave her a superiority of rank and dignity, 
but no real control over the federation. Rome was never one 
of the Latin cities. Her position was that of a " separate state, 
confronting the league," equal to it, or even superior to it in 
power, and when accepted as a close ally, necessarily exercising 
a protectorate. By the terms of the treaty, equality between 
Rome and Latium was jealously insisted upon ; but, practi- 
cally, Rome was paramount, and directed the policy of the 
league at her pleasure. 

An extension of the city of Rome accompanied this advance 
in her territorial influence and in her dignity. The original 
" Roma quadrata " was confined to a single hill, the Palatine, 
of which perhaps it occupied only the north-western half. From 
this centre the town spread to the neighboring heights, the 
Esquiline on the north-east, and the Coelian on the south-east, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



293 



whereon suburbs grew up, perched upon eminences, which 
together with the Palatine were seven in number, and consti- 
tuted the primitive '* Septimontium." The Rome which had 
these hmits was confronted by a separate settlement, probably 
Sabine, on the hills (" colles ") directly to the north, the Capi- 
toline, Quirinal, and Viminal. But after a while the two com- 
munities coalesced ; and the Rome of Tullus probably included 
the houses both of the " Montani " and the " Collini," or those 
of the " Mount-men " and the " Hill-men/' Ancus added a 
settlement on the Aventine, so completing the later " Septi- 
montium." It remained, however, for Servius to inclose the 
various eminences, and a considerable space between and be- 
yond them, within a single continuous line of wall. It is sig- 
nificative of the greatness of the Roman state at this time, that 
the " walls of Servius " sufficed for the city down to the time 
of Aurelian. 

It is said that Servius, towards the close of a long reign, 
began to fear for the stability of his institutions, and planned 
measures which would, he hoped, secure their continuance. 
He intended to abdicate, before doing so presiding at the elec- 
tion of two magistrates by the free votes of the people assembled 
in their centuries (coniitia centuriata), who should be under- 
stood to be appointed to their office, not for life, but only 
for a single year. It should be their business, before the end 
of the year, to hold an assembly for the election of their suc- 
cessors ; and thus the state would have passed, without vio- 
lence or revolution, under the government of popular annual 
magistrates. The office of chief magistrate was, it is probable, 
to be open to both orders. But the members of the " houses," 
disgusted at this prospect, frustrated the monarch's plans by 
anticipating them. Before Servius could effect the changes 
which he had designed, they broke out in open revolt, mur- 
dered the aged monarch in the Senate-house, and placed a 
Tarquin, the son of the former king of the same name, on the 
throne. 

L. Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome, having 
gained his crown by the sole favor of the Patricians, acted 
no doubt in some respects oppressively towards the other 
order. He set aside at once the whole constitution of Ser- 



294 



RAWLINSON 



vius, and restored that which had existed under the earlier 
kings. But it may be questioned whether his oppression of 
the commonalty ever proceeded farther than this. Some writ- 
ers represent him as grinding down the people by task-work 
of a grievous and distasteful kind, and then, when they mur- 
mured, banishing them from Rome to distant colonies. But 
the works which seem to be rightfully assigned to the second 
Tarquin are not of such a character as to imply servile or 
grinding labor. Their object was most probably the con- 
tentation of the poorer classes, who obtained by means of them 
constant employment at good wages. And the planting of 
colonies was always a popular measure, involving, as it did of 
necessity, an allotment of fresh lands to needy persons. Again, 
the " cloacae " of Superbus, and his construction of perma- 
nent stone seats in the Circus Maximus, were for the advantage 
of the lower classes of the citizens. 

The real " tyranny " of Superbus was over the Patricians, 
It cannot have commenced very early in his reign. When 
however, he felt himself securely settled upon the throne, when 
he had made himself fairly popular with the bulk of the com- 
munity, when, by the vigor of his external administration, he 
had acquired a reputation, and perhaps an amount of military 
strength which made him careless of offending the " houses," 
he ceased to respect the rights of the privileged class, and, dis- 
pensing with their assistance in the government, took the com- 
plete direction of affairs into his own hands. Perhaps this was 
not much more than earlier monarchs had done, when they felt 
themselves fairly established. But the spirit of the nobles was 
higher than it had formerly been. They had recently slain one 
king and set up another. They viewed Tarquin as their creat- 
ure, and were indignant that he should turn against them. 
Still, had the tyranny of the monarch been merely political; 
had their persons and the honor of their families remained 
secure, it is quite possible that no outbreak would have oc- 
curred. But Tarquin, suspicious of their intentions, com- 
menced a series of prosecutions. He had charges brought 
against the most powerful Patricians, and took cognizance of 
them himself. Disallowing the right of appeal, he punished 
numbers by death or exile. Finally, the outrage upon a noble 



ANCIENT HISTORY 295 

Patrician matron woke the smouldering discontent into a 
flame. Rebellion broke out ; and, the monarch having sought 
safety in flight, the Patrician order, with the tacit acquiescence 
of the Plebeians, revolutionized the government. 

The vigor of Tarquin's administration to the last is indicated 
by the " Treaty with Carthage," which he must have been 
negotiating at the time of his dethronement. The story of 
his dealings with Turnus Herdonius seems to indicate that he 
held a position of more authority with respect to the Latin 
league than had been occupied by Servius. And the terms 
used with respect to the Latins in the treaty above mentioned 
confirm this view. The conquest of Gabii in his reign is prob- 
ably a fact, though the circumstances of the conquest may be 
fictitious. 

The great works of Tarquin were the Capitoline Temple, the 
branch doacce which drained into the Cloaca Maxima, the seats 
in the Circus Maximus, and perhaps the Cyclopian wall still 
existing at Signia. 

The chronology of the kingly period at Rome is extremely 
uncertain. Traditionally the period was reckoned at either 
240 or 244 years. To Romulus were assigned 37 years ; to 
Numa, 39 (or 43) ; to Tullus, 32 ; to Ancus, 24 ; to Tarquin I., 
38; to Servius, 44; to Tarquin IL, 25; and an "interreg- 
num " of a year was counted between Romulus and Numa. 
It has been pointed out that the average duration of the reigns 
(35 years nearly) is improbably long; and that the numbers 
bear in many points the appearance of artificial manipulation. 
On the earlier numbers in the list, and therefore upon the total, 
no dependence at all can be placed ; for neither Romulus nor 
Numa can be regarded as real personages. There is reason 
to believe that the " regifugium " took place in or about the 
year B.C. 508. Perhaps we may accept the traditions with re- 
spect to the later kings so far as to believe that the reigns of 
the last three monarchs covered the space of about a century, 
and those of the two preceding them the space of about half 
a century. The time that the monarchy had lasted before Tul- 
lus was probably unknown to the Romans at the period when 
history first began to be written. 



296 RAWLINSON 



SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Foundation of the RepubHc to the Commencement 
of the Samnite Wars, B.C. 508 to 340.* 

The interest of the Roman history during the whole of this 
period belongs mainly to the internal affairs of the Republic, 
the struggle between the orders, the growth of the constitution 
and of the laws ; secondarily only, and by comparison, slightly, 
to the external affairs, wars, treaties, alliances, and conquests. 
With the three exceptions of the first Latin War, the Veientine 
contest, and the great attack of Gauls, the wars are unevent- 
ful and unimportant. The progress made is slight. It may 
be questioned whether at the close of the period Terminus has 
advanced in any direction beyond the point which it had 
reached under the kings. The relations of Rome to Latium 
are certainly less close and less to the advantage of Rome at 
the close of the period than at its commencement ; and thus 
far, the power of the Roman state is diminished rather than 
augmented. 

The internal changes during the period are, on the contrary, 
of the highest interest and importance. They include the es- 
tablishment of the Plebeian Tribunate, the Decemviral consti- 
tution and legislation, the institution of the Censorship, the 
experiments of the First and Second Military Tribunates, the 
re-establishment of the Consulship with the proviso that one 
consul should be a Plebeian, the infringement of the proviso, 
and the whole series of the early agrarian enactments and dis- 
turbances. There is no portion of the constitutional history 
of any ancient state which has a deeper interest than this— 

* Sources. The most copious authorities are, as before, Livy (books 
ii.-vii.), and Dionysius (books v.-xi. and fragments of books xii.-xx.); 
to which may be added Plutarch, in his lives of PoplicoLa, Coriolanus, 
and Camillus; Diodorus Siculus (books xi.-xvi.); and the fragments 
of Appian, and Dio Cassius. Occasional notices of the period, mostly 
of great value, are also found in Polybius. For the chronology, the 
best authority is the important monument dug up on the site of the 
Forum, and generally known as the Fasti Capitolini, which, so far as 
it goes, is invaluable. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



297 



none from which lessons of greater value can be learnt. A 
certain amount of obscurity rests, indeed, upon many points, 
on which we should be glad to have clearer and more certain 
knowledge; but, despite this drawback, the history is in the 
highest degree instructive, and will well reward the study of 
all those who love both order and freedom. 

The constitution established on the expulsion of Tarquin 
was, in part, the actualization of the ideal of Servius, in part 
an enlargement of that ideal, conceived in the same spirit. 
Servius had designed to intrust the government of the state 
to two annual magistrates elected by the free voice of the cen- 
turies, and had made the centuries, in which all freemen were 
enrolled, the recognized Assembly of the Roman people. He 
had given the non-burghers generally the rights of municipal 
self-government ; of the election of their own " tribunes," 
" aediles," and " judges ; " and of the assessment and collec- 
tion of their own taxes. But this, so far as appears, was all. 
The leaders of the revolution of B.C. 508 went farther. They 
restored the constitution of Servius, and they added to it. 
Two " praetors," or " consuls," were elected by the free voice 
of the centuries, according to a form of proceedings which 
Servius had left behind him in writing; and one of the first 
pair of consuls was a non-burgher or Plebeian. The Senate, 
which had dwindled under the later kings, partly from natural 
causes, partly by the deliberate policy of the tyrant, was com- 
pleted to its ideal number of 300, by the addition of 164 life- 
members (" conscripti "), chosen from the richest of the 
" equites," of whom a considerable number were Plebeians. 
The right of appeal, suspended under the last king, was re- 
vived, and was so enlarged as to include all freemen. Thus, 
at the outset, the new constitution wore the appearance, at 
any rate, of equality. No sharp line of demarcation was drawn 
between the two orders in respect of personal freedom, or ad- 
missibility to political privilege ; and it is not too much to say 
that, if the spirit which animated the Patrician body in B.C. 
508 had continued to prevail, contentions and struggles be- 
tween the two orders would never have arisen. 

But this fair prospect was soon clouded over. The Patri- 
cians had been induced to make the concessions above enu- 



298 RAWLINSON 

merated to the other Order, not from any sense of justice, but 
through fear of Tarquin and his partisans, who were laboring 
to bring about a restoration. Of this there was for a time con- 
siderable danger. There was a royalist party among the Patri- 
cians themselves ; and both the Etruscans and the Latins were 
inclined to espouse the quarrel of the deposed king. When, 
however, this peril was past, when the chiefs of the royalist 
faction were banished or executed, when the Etruscans had 
met a resistance which they had not counted on, and the Latins 
had sustained the complete defeat of the Lake Regillus, the 
policy of the Patricians changed. No Plebeian was allowed 
to enjoy the consulship after Brutus, and by degrees it grew 
to be forgotten that any but Patricians had ever been regarded 
as eligible. No plan was adopted by which Plebeians could 
obtain regular entrance into the Senate; and, as their life- 
members died off, the council of the nation was once more 
closed to them. The whole power of the government was en- 
grossed by the Patrician order; which, finding itself free from 
any check, naturally became overbearing and oppressive. 

The imminent danger of a restoration at one time is indi- 
cated by the story, which Livy tells, of the origin of the Dic- 
tatorship. Such an ofBce was evidently no part of the original 
idea of the constitution ; but was exactly what might naturally 
have been devised to meet an emergency. If the circumstances 
were such as Livy mentions, the first Dictator must have been 
named by the Senate. In after-times it is certain that the Sen- 
ate claimed the right of nomination, though practically they 
were generally satisfied to select the consul who should nomi- 
nate. 

The loss of political privilege would not, it is probable, by 
itself, have called forth any active movement on the part of 
the commonalty. It required the stimulus of personal suffer- 
ing to stir up the law-loving Roman to offer any resistance to 
constituted authority. This stimulus was found in the harsh 
enforcement, not long after the commencement of the Repub- 
lic, of the law of debtor and creditor — a law which, under the 
circumstances of the time, pressed heavily on vast numbers 
of the community, and "threatened to deprive them of their 
personal freedom, if not even of their lives. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 299 

The operation of the law of debt acquired poHtical impor- 
tance chiefly from the large number of the debtors at this period 
of the history; and it is therefore necessary to inquire what 
were the circumstances which caused the wide prevalence of 
indebtedness at the time — a prevalence which threatened revo- 
lution. Now, in the first place, nothing is more clear than that 
the change from the Monarchy to the Republic was accom- 
panied by a diminution in the power and prestige of Rome, 
which sank from a position of pre-eminence among the central 
Italian nations to one of comparative insignificance. The Lat- 
ins profited by the occasion to reclaim their complete inde- 
pendence ; the Etruscans assumed an aggressive attitude, and 
an Etruscan monarch, Lars Porsenna, appears to have actually 
for a term of years held Rome in subjection. This yoke was 
indeed shaken ol¥ after a while ; but a permanent result of the 
subjection remained in the loss of almost all the territory on 
the right bank of the Tiber. The Romans whose lands lay 
on that side of the river thus lost them ; while at the same 
time the separation between Rome and Latium laid the Roman 
territory on the south side of the river open to incursions. 
The Sabines and Oscans plundered and ravaged freely; the 
crops were ruined, the farm buildings and implements de- 
stroyed, the cattle carried off. A general impoverishment was 
the natural consequence ; and this would of course be felt most 
by the poorest classes, and especially by those whose small 
plots of land were their sole means of sustenance. 

The poverty thus produced was further aggravated, i. By 
the exaction of taxes, which by the Roman system were as- 
sessed upon individuals, not for a single year, but for a term 
of five years, and had to be paid for that term, whether the 
property on which they were levied remained in the possession 
of the individual or not ; 2. By the high rate of interest, which, 
under the peculiar circumstances of the time, rose probably 
from the normal rate of 10 per cent, (unciarium fccnus) to such 
rates as 30, 40, or perhaps even 50 per cent. ; 3. By the non- 
payment of the rents due to the treasury from the posscssorcs, 
the withholding of which caused the property-tax (tributum) 
to become a serious burden ; 4. By the cessation of the system 
of allotments {divisio agrorum) instituted by Servius, which was 



300 



RAWLINSON 



intended to compensate the Plebeians for their exclusion from 
the right of possessio. 

When the sufferings of the poorer classes had reached to a 
certain height from the cruel enforcements of the laws con- 
cerning debt, murmurs and indignant outcries began to be 
heard. At first, however, the opposition of the discontented 
took a purely legal shape. The Roman was a volunteer army, 
not a conscription; and the Plebeians had been wont, at the 
call of the consuls, freely to offer their services. Now they 
declined to give in their names unless upon the promise of a 
redress of grievances. Promises to this effect were made and 
broken. The Plebeians then, driven to despair, " seceded " — 
that is to say, they withdrew from Rome in a body, and pro- 
ceeded to prepare for themselves new abodes across the Anio, 
intending to found a new city separate from the burgesses, 
where they might live under their own sole government. Such 
a step was no doubt revolutionary ; it implied the complete dis- 
ruption of the state ; but it was revolution of a kind which in- 
volved no bloodshed. The burghers, however, seeing in the 
step taken the ruin of both orders — for Rome divided against 
herself must have speedily succumbed to some one or other 
of her powerful neighbors — felt compelled to yield. The Plebs 
required as the conditions of their return that all debts of per- 
sons who could prove themselves insolvent should be can- 
celled ; that all persons in the custody of their creditors on 
account of debt should be set at liberty ; and that certain 
guardians of the Plebeian order should be annually elected by 
the nation at large, whose persons should be sacred, who should 
be recognized as magistrates of the nation, and whose special 
business should be to defend and protect from injury all Plebe- 
ians appealing to them. These were the famous " Tribuni 
Plebis," or " Tribunes of the Commons," who played so im- 
portant a part in the later history of the Republic. Their 
original number is uncertain ; but it would seem to have been 
either five or two. 

It is evident that the economical portion of this arrangement 
very insufficiently met the difficulty of the existing poverty ; 
and there can be little doubt that, besides the formal provisos 
above mentioned, there was an understanding that the Plebe- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 301 

ian grievances should be redressed by an equitable system of 
allotments. Such a system was advocated shortly afterwards, 
B.C. 484, by Sp. Cassius, one of the consuls under whom the 
Plebs returned from their secession, but was violently opposed 
by the bulk of the Patrician order, and cost its advocate his life. 
Still, from time to time, concessions of this kind were made, 
to keep the Plebeians in good humor; and gradually, as the 
territory once more grew in size, considerable portions of it 
were parcelled out to small proprietors. 

But a new character was given to the struggle between the 
orders by the tribunate, which enabled the wealthier Plebeians, 
whose especial grievance was their exclusion from the chief 
offices in the state, to turn the efforts of their order to the ob- 
taining of equal political privileges and thus to initiate a contest 
which lasted for above a century. The first step taken in ad- 
vance was by the law of Publilius Volero (B.C. 470), the main 
importance of which was that it assumed the initiative in legis- 
lation, hitherto exclusively in the hands of the other Order. 
When the attempt thus made to legislate in a matter of public 
importance succeeded, when, by the sanction of the Senate and 
Patricians, the rogatio Publilia became law, the contest was vir- 
tually decided ; a door was opened by means of which an 
entrance might be effected into the very citadel of the constitu- 
tion ; all that was necessary was sufficient patience and perse- 
verance, a determination in spite of all obstacles to press 
steadily forward to the required end, and to consent perma- 
nently to no compromise that should seriously interfere with 
the great principle of equal rights. 

The Plebeians, victorious in this first struggle, did not long 
rest upon their oars. In B.C. 460 the tribune, C. Terentilius 
Harsa, brought forward a proposition, the real object of which 
was a complete change of the constitution. He proposed the 
creation of a board of commissioners, half Patrician, half Ple- 
beian, whose duties should be to codify the existing laws, to 
limit and define the authority of the consuls, and to establish 
a constitution just and equitable to both orders. The proposi- 
tion was opposed with the utmost determination and violence. 
Even at the last, it was not formally carried ; but, after ten 
years of the most vehement strife, after Rome, through the con- 



302 



RAWLINSON 



tentions between the orders, had several times been nearly 
taken by the Volscians, and had once been actually occupied 
by a band of adventurers under a Sabine named Appius Her- 
donius, called in by some of the more violent of the Patrician 
body, the nobles virtually yielded — they agreed that that 
should be done which the law proposed, but required that it 
should be done in another way. The nation, assembled in ifs 
centuries, should freely choose the ten commissioners to whom 
so important a task was to be intrusted, and who would, more- 
over, constitute a provisional government, superseding for the 
time all other magistrates. The Plebeians consented ; and the 
natural consequence was that ten Patricians were chosen — Pa- 
tricians, however, mostly of known moderation, who might be 
expected to perform their task prudently and justly. 

The First Decemvirs did not disappoint the expectations 
formed of them. In their codification of the laws they did little 
but stereotype the existing practice, putting, for the most part, 
into a written form what had previously been matter of prece- 
dent and usage. In some matters, however, where the law 
was loose and indeterminate, they had to give it definiteness 
and precision by expressing for the first time its provisions 
in writing. The code of the Twelve Tables — " fons omnis 
publici privatique juris " — which dates from this time, was a 
most valuable digest of the early Roman law, and, even in 
the fragmentary state in which it has come down to us, de- 
serves careful study. 

The fragments of the code have been published by several 
writers, as by Haubold in his " Institutionum juris Romani 
privati Lineamenta," Lipsise, 1826; and by Dirksen in his 
" Uebersicht der bisherigen Versuche zur Kritik und Herstell- 
ung des Textes der Zwolf-Tafel-Fragmente," Leipzig, 1824. 
The subject has been well treated by Arnold in his " Roman 
History," Vol. I., Chap. XIV. The following are the Tables, 
as given by Dirksen, the original form of the language being 
only partially preserved : 



ANCIENT HISTORY 303 

LAWS OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 
FIRST TABLE. 

SI. IN. IVS. VOCAT. NI. IT. ANTKSTATOR. IGITVR. EM. CAPITO. 

SI. CALVITVR. PEDEMVE. STRVIT. MANVM. ENDOIACITO. 

SI. MORBVS. AEVITASVE. VITIVM. ESCIT. QVI. IN. IVS. VOCABIT. IVMENTVM. DATO. 

SI. NOLET. ARCERAM. NE. STERNITO. 
ASSIDVO. VINDEX. ASSIDVVS. ESTO. PROLETARIO. QVOI. QVIS. VOLET. .VINDEX. 

ESTO. 
REM. VBI. PAGVNT. ORATO. 
NI. PAGVNT. IN. COMITIO. AVT. IN. FORO. ANTE. MERIDIEM. CAVSAM. CONIICITO. 

QVOM. PERORANT. AMBO. PRAESENTES. 
POST. MERIDIEM. PRAESENTI. STLITEM. ADDICITO. 
SOL. OCCASVS. SVPREMA. TEMPESTAS. ESTO. 
— VADES. — SVBVADES. — 

SECOND TABLE. 

MORBVS. — SONTICVS. — STATVS. DIES. CVM. HOSTE. — QVID. HORVM. FVIT. VNVM. 

IVDICI. ARBITROVE. REO. VE. DIES. DIFFISVS. ESTO. 
CV. TESTIMONIVM. DEFVERIT. IS. TERTIIS. DIEBVS. OB. PORTVM. OBVAGVLATVM. 

ITO. 

THIRD TABLE. 

AERIS. CONFESSL REBVSQVE. IVRE. IVDICATIS. TRIGINTA. DIES. IVSTL SVNTO. 

POST. DEINDE. MANVS. INIECTIO. ESTO. IN. IVS. DVCITO. 

NI. IVDICATVM. FACIT. AVT. QVIPS. ENDO. EM. IVRE. VINDICIT. SECVM. DVCITO. 

VINCITO. AVT. NERVO. AVT. COMPEDIBVS. QVINDECIM. PONDO. NE. MAIORE. AVT. 

SI. VOLET. MINORE. VINCITO. 
SI. VOLET. SVO. VIVITO. NI. SVO. VIVIT. QVI. EM. VINCTVM. HABEBIT. LIBRAS. 

FARRIS. ENDO. DIES. DATO. SI. VOLET. PLVS. DATO. 
TERTIIS. NVNDINIS, PARTIS. SECANTO. SI. PLVS. MINVSVE. SECVERVNT. SE. FRAVDE. 

ESTO. 
ADVERSVS. HOSTEM. AETERNA. AVCTORITAS. 

FOURTH TABLE. 

SI. PATER. FILIVM. TER. VENVM. DVIT. FILIVS. A. PATRE. LIBER. ESTO. 

FIFTH TABLE. 

VTI. LEGASSIT. SVPER. PECVNIA. TVTELAVE. SVAE, REI. ITA. IVS. ESTO. 

SI. INTESTATO. MORITVR. CVI. SVVS. HERES. NEC. SIT. ADGNATVS. PROXIMVS. 

FAMILIAM. HABETO. 
SI. AGNATVS. NEC. ESCIT. GENTILIS. FAMILIAM. NANCITOR. 
SI. FVRIOSVS. EST. AGNATORVM. GENTILIVMQVE. IN. EO. PECVNIAQVE. EIVS. 

POTESTAS. ESTO. — AST. EI. CVSTOS. NEC. ESCIT. 
EX. EA. FAMILIA IN. EAM. FAMILIAM. 

SIXTH TABLE. 

CVM. NEXVM. FACIET. MANCIPIVMQVE. VTI. LINGVA. NVNCVPASSIT. ITA. IVS. ESTO. 
SI. QVI. IN. IVRE. MANVM. CONSERVNT. 

TIGNVM. IVNCTVM. AEDIBVS. VINEAEQVE. ET. CONCAPET, NE. SOLVITO. 
QVANDOQVE. SARPTA. DONEC. DEMPTA. ERVNT. 



304 RAWLINSON 

SEVENTH TABLE. 



— HORTVS. — HEREDIVM. — TVGVRIVM. — 

SI. IVRGANT. — 

SI. AQVA. PLVVIA. NOCET. — 

EIGHTH TABLE. 

SI. MEMBRVM. RVPIT. NI. CVM. EO. PACIT. TALIO. ESTO. 

SI. INIVRIAM. FAXIT. ALTERI. VIGINTI. QVINQVE. AERIS. POENAE. SVNTO. 

— RVPITIAS. — SARCITO. 

— QVI. FRVGES. EXCANTASSIT. — NEVE. ALIENAM. SEGETEM. PELLEXERIS. — 

SI. NOX. FVRTVM. FACTVM. SIT. SI. IM. OCCISIT. IVRE. CAESVS. ESTO. 

SI. ADORAT. KVRTO. QVOD. NEC. MANIFESTVM. ESCIT. — 

PATRONVS. SI. CLIENTI. FRAVDEM. FECERIT. SACER. ESTO. 

QVI. SE. SIERIT. TESTARIER. LIBRIPENSVE. FVERIT. NI. TESTIMONIVM. FARIATVR. 

IMPROBVS. INTESTABILISQVE. ESTO. 
QVI. MALVM. CARMEN. INCANTASSET. MALVM. VENENVM. 



TENTH TABLE. 

IIOMINEM. MORTVVM. IN. VRBE. NE. SEPELITO. NEVE. VRII 
HOC. PLVS. NE. FACITO. — ROGVM. ASCIA. NE. POLITO. 

MVLIERES. GENAS. NE. RADVNTO. NEVE. LESSVM. FVNERIS. ERGO. HABENTO. 
HOMINI. MORTVO. NE. OSSA. LEGITO. QVO. POST. FVNVS. FACIAT. 
QVI. CORONAM. PARIT. IPSE. PECVNIAVE. EIVS. VIRTVTIS. ERGO DIVITOR. EI. 
NEVE. AVRVM. ADDITO. QVOI. AVRO. DENTES. VINCTI. ESCVNT. AST. IM. CUM. ILLO. 
SEPELIRE. VREREVE. SE. FRAVDE. ESTO. 



TWELFTH TABLE. 

SI. SERVVS. FVRTVM. FAXIT. NOXIAMVE. NOCVIT. — 

SI. VINDICIAM. FALSAM. TVLIT SI. VELIT. 13 TOR. AR3ITROS. 

DATO. EORVM. ARPITRIO FRVCTVS. DVPLIONE. DAMNVM. DECIDITO. 



But the main work of the Decemvirs was the constitution 
which they devised and sought to estabHsh. In lieu of the 
double magistracy, half Patrician and half Plebeian, which had 
recently divided the state, and had threatened actual disrup- 
tion, the Decemvirs instituted a single governmental body — 
a board of ten, half Patrician and half Plebeian, which was to 
supersede at once the consulate and the tribunate, and to be 
the sole Roman executive. The centuries were to elect; and 
the Patrician assembly was, probably, to confirm the election. 
It is suspected that the duration of the office was intended to 
exceed a year ; but this is perhaps uncertain. 

Fairly as this constitution was intended, and really liberal as 



ANCIENT HISTORY 305 

were its provisions, as a practical measure of relief it failed 
entirely. One member of the board, Appius Claudius, obtained 
a complete ascendency over his colleagues, and persuaded 
them, as soon as they came into office, to appear and act as 
tyrants. The abolition of all the other high magistracies had 
removed those checks which had previously restrained consuls, 
tribunes, and even dictators ; there was now no power in the 
state which could legally interfere to prevent an abuse of 
authority, unless it were the Senate; and the Senate was on 
the whole inclined to prefer a tyranny which did not greatly 
affect its own members, to the tumults and disorders of the 
last forty years. Rather than see the tribunate restored, the 
Patricians, and their representatives the senators, were pre- 
pared to bear much ; and thus there was small hope of redress 
from this quarter. 

It was on the Plebeians that the yoke of the Decemvirs 
pressed most heavily. It was supposed that, as they had now 
no legal mode of even making their complaints heard, since 
there were no tribunes to summon the tribes to meet, they at 
any rate might be oppressed and insulted with absolute im- 
punity. Accordingly, they were subjected to every kind of 
wrong and indignity — the Decemvirs and their partisans plun- 
dered them, outraged their persons, heaped contumely upon 
them, and finally attacked them in the tenderest of all points — 
the honor of their families. Then at length resistance was 
aroused. As the wrongs of Lucretia had armed the Patricians 
against Tarquin, so those of Virginia produced a rising of the 
Plebeians against Appius. The armies, which were in the field, 
revolted : the commons at home rose ; and, when the Senate 
still declined to take any active steps against the Decemvirs, 
the whole mass of the Plebeians once more occupied the Mons 
Sacer. The walls of a new city began to rise ; the Roman state 
was split in two ; its foreign enemies, seeing their opportunity, 
assumed a threatening attitude ; destruction was imminent ; 
when at last the Senate yielded. Appius and his colleagues 
were required by a decree {scnatiisconsidtum) to resign their 
offices, and, having now no physical force on which they could 
fall back, they submitted, and went through the formalities of 
abdication. 
20 



3o6 RAWLINSON 

Forced hurriedly to extemporize a government, the state fell 
back upon that form which had immediately preceded the es- 
tablishment of the First Decemvirate. It was adopted, how- 
ever, with certain modifications. Prior to the Decemvirate for 
above thirty years, the Patricians had claimed and exercised the 
right of appointing by their own exclusive assembly one of 
the two consuls. It was impossible at the present conjuncture 
to maintain so manifestly unfair an usurpation. The free elec- 
tion of both consuls was consequently restored to the cen- 
turies. The tribunate of the Plebs was re-established exactly 
as it had existed before the Decemvirate. But the position of 
the other Plebeian magistrates was improved. The Plebeian 
" sediles " and judges were allowed the " sacrosanct " charac- 
ter ; and the former were made custodians of all decrees passed 
by the Senate, which it henceforth became impossible for the 
magistrates to ignore or falsify. Further, a distinct recognition 
was made of the right of the tribunes to consult the tribes on 
matters of public concern, and thus initiate legislation — a right 
hitherto resting merely upon grounds of reason and prescrip- 
tion. 

In relinquishing temporarily their claim to a share in the 
supreme magistracy for the purpose of securing at any cost 
the restoration of the much-valued tribunate, the Plebeians 
were far from intending to profess themselves satisfied with 
the exclusive possession of high ofBce by the other party. They 
expected, perhaps, that some proposition for giving them a 
certain share in the government would emanate from the Patri- 
cians themselves, who were not universally blind to the justice 
of their claims. But, as time went on and no movement in this 
direction was made, the Plebeian leaders once more took up 
the question, and in B.C. 442, C. Canuleius, one of the tribunes, 
brought forward two separate but connected laws, one opening 
the consulship to the Plebeian Order, the other legalizing inter- 
marriage between Patricians and Plebeians, and providing 
that the children should follow the rank of the father. Both 
laws encountered a strenuous opposition ; and according to 
one authority, no concession was made until the Plebs once 
more seceded, this time across the Tiber to the Janiculan Hill, 
when the " Intermarriage Law " (lex de connubia) was passed. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 307 

and, in lieu of the other, a compromise was effected between 
the Orders, It was agreed to put the consulate in commission, 
substituting for the double rule of two equal magistrates, which 
had hitherto prevailed, a board of (probably) five persons* of 
unequal rank, among whom the consular powers were to be 
parcelled out. The duties with respect to the revenue, and the 
arrangement of the roll of the Senate, of the knights, and of 
the citizens generally in the centuries, which had hitherto been 
exercised by the consuls, were separated off and made over to 
two " Censors " elected by the centuries from among the nobles 
only. The remaining duties of the consuls were consigned to 
three " military tribunes," also elected by the centuries, but 
from the Patricians and Plebeians indifferently. The latter 
officers were to be annual ; the former were to hold office for 
a term of five years. 

The working of this constitution was extremely unsatisfac- 
tory to the Plebeians. By means of the irregular alternation 
of the consulate with the military tribunate, at least half the 
supreme magistracies were monopolized by the nobles with- 
out the Plebeians being able even to be candidates. With re- 
spect to the other half, it might have been thought that they 
could have avenged themselves. But practically it was found 
that only on rare occasions, under circumstances of peculiar 
excitement, could the centuries be induced to elect a Plebeian 
candidate. The Patricians by their own votes and those of 
their clients in the centuries of the first class had almost 
the complete control of the elections ; and during nearly forty 
years, at the most three Plebeians obtained a place in the 
college. Even then their position was insecure. The colleges 
of sacred lore might be called upon to inquire whether some 
accidental informality at the election had not rendered it in- 
valid. Of the three Plebeian tribunes elected under the con- 
stitution of B.C. 442, one was made to resign in his third month 
of office, because the augural tent had not been pitched rightly. 

Nor were the Plebeians compensated for their disappoint- 

* Mommsen says "eight" — two censors, and six military tribunes; 
but there is no instance of a board of six military tribunes till B.C. 402, 
forty years later; after which time there is no instance of a board con- 
taining less than six. 



3o8 RAWLINSON 

ment with respect to the constitution of B.C. 442 by mild or 
hberal treatment in other respects during the forty years that 
it lasted (B.C. 442 to 402). The dignity of the censorship was 
indeed lessened by the ^Emilian law, which diminished the 
duration of the office from five years to eighteen months ; but 
any advantage which the Plebeians might seem to have gained 
in this respect was counterbalanced by the elevation of the 
prefect of the city, an exclusively Patrician officer, to the posi- 
tion of a colleague of the military tribunes when there were no 
censors in office. A demand which the Plebeians made for 
a share of the quaestorship was practically eluded in the way 
which had now come to be fashionable, by throwing the office 
open to both Orders. Requests for allotments of land were 
either wholly rejected, or answered by niggardly assignment's 
of two " jugera " to a man in portions of the territory very 
open to attack on the part of an enemy. The state-rents were 
generally withheld by the " possessores ; " and, to make up the 
deficiency in the revenue, the property-tax was unduly aug- 
mented. The demand of the tribunes, that the soldiers should 
receive pay during the time that they were on active service, 
was not complied with ; nor was any thing done to alleviate 
the pressure caused by the high rate of interest. 

Thus the Plebeians, though, by the letter of the constitution, 
they had made certain not inconsiderable gains since the abo- 
lition of the Decemvirate, were scarcely better contented with 
their position in the state than they had been when Terentilius 
or when Canuleius commenced their agitations. And the Pa- 
tricians were quite aware of their feelings. Accordingly, when, 
about B.C. 403, the military position of Rome among her neigh- 
bors had become such as to justify the nation in entering upon 
a more important war than any hitherto waged by the Repub- 
lic, and it was clear that success would depend very much 
upon the heartiness and unanimity with which the whole nation 
threw itself into the struggle, the Patricians themselves came 
forward with proposals for a change in the military tribunate, 
and probably one also in the censorship, which had for their 
object the better contentation of the other Order. A new con- 
stitution was framed ; and at the same time it was agreed that 
the state-rents should be carefully collected, and from the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



309 



money thus obtained regular pay should be given to the sol- 
diers, who were now to be called upon to serve the whole, or 
nearly the whole, of the year. 

The wars of the Republic had hitherto been of minor impor- 
tance. After the yoke of Porsenna was thrown off a short and 
sharp struggle had supervened with the Latins, who were com- 
pelled by Sp. Cassius (B.C. 491), if not to renew their old 
treaty, at any rate to enter into a league, offensive and defen- 
sive, with the Romans. The Hernicans of the Upper Liris 
country were soon afterwards (B.C. 484) forced by the same 
general to join the alliance. The special object of the league 
was to resist the encroachments of the Oscan nations, partic- 
ularly the .-^iqui and Volsci, who were now at the height of 
their power. A long struggle with these nations, attended with 
very varying success, had followed. Rome had at times been 
reduced to great straits. Many Latin cities had been taken 
and occupied by the Volscians. But, after above half a century 
of almost perpetual contest, the power of the Oscans began 
to wane. The confederated Romans, Latins, and Hernicans 
recovered most of their lost ground. Tarracina was reoccu- 
pied, B.C. 403. At the same time, the pressure of the Sabines 
upon Rome, constant in the earlier years of the Republic, had 
ceased. A great victory, gained by the consul Horatius, in 
B.C. 446, had relieved Rome of this enemy, whose superabun- 
dant energies found for many years an ample scope in South- 
ern Italy. Under these circumstances of comparative freedom 
from any pressing danger, Rome felt that the time was come 
when she might make a fresh start in the race for power. She 
was cramped for room towards the north and west by the near 
vicinity of an important but not very formidable state, Veii. 
Having first tested her adversary's strength in a contest for 
the possession of that single post which the Etruscans still 
held south of the Tiber, namely, Fidense, and having after some 
difficulty been successful so far (B.C. 423), Rome proceeded 
in B.C. 402 to enter upon a fresh war with Veii, distinctly in- 
tending to effect, if she could, a permanent conquest. 

The war with the Veientines, commenced in this spirit, 
lasted, according to the tradition, ten years — B.C. 402 to 392. 
Rome now for the first time maintained in the field continu- 



3IO RAWLINSON 

ously an armed force, thus laying the foundation of that " stand- 
ing army " to which she ultimately owed most of her greatness. 
She made her attack on the powerful Etruscan state at a fortu- 
nate time. Almost contemporaneously with her first serious 
aggressions upon the southernmost city of the confederacy 
began that terrible inroad from the North which utterly shat- 
tered and broke up the Etruscan power in the plain of the Po, 
and first alarmed and then seriously crippled the strength of 
the Cis-Apennine league. Had not the Gallic invasion occu- 
pied the whole attention of the Northern Etruscans, it is prob- 
able that they would have made common cause with the threat- 
ened Veil, in which case the war would scarcely have terminated 
as it did in the capture and ruin of the city. 

The successful issue of the war with Veil encouraged the 
Romans to fresh efforts in the same direction. Capena was 
conquered and her territory absorbed in the year after Veil fell. 
Then Falerii was attacked and forced to cede some of her lands. 
The neighboring towns of Nepete and Sutrium submitted at 
the same time, and became Roman dependencies. Finally, war 
was declared against the Volsinians, and the Roman arms were 
carried beyond the Ciminian mountains. Here victory was 
again with the aggressors ; but the success failed to bring any 
increase of territory. 

But now the progress of Rome received a sudden and ter- 
rible check. The Gallic hordes, which had begun to swarm 
across the Alps about B.C. 400, and had conquered Northern 
Etruria nearly at the time when the Romans took Veii, after 
a brief pause crossed the Apennines, and spread like a flood 
over Central Italy. Whether Rome gave them any special 
provocation, or no, is doubtful. At any rate, they poured 
down the valley of the Tiber in irresistible force, utterly de- 
feated the entire armed strength of the Romans upon the Allia, 
captured the city, and burnt almost the whole of it, except the 
Capitol. The Capitol itself was besieged for months, but still 
held out, when the Gauls, weary of inaction and alarmed for 
the safety of their conquests in the plain of the Po, consented, 
on the payment of a large sum of money, to retire. 

It might have been expected that this fearful blow would 
have been fatal to the supremacy of Rome among the Italic 



ANCIENT HISTORY 311 

nations. But the result was otherwise. At first, indeed, con- 
sequences followed which brought the Republic into serious 
danger, and seemed to menace its existence. The Latins and 
Hernicans, who had been united in the closest possible league 
with the Romans, the former for above, the latter for not much 
less than a century, took the opportunity of Rome's defeat to 
declare the league dissolved. The Oscan nations, the Volsci 
especially, renewed their attacks." The Etruscans took the 
offensive. Rome was saved from immediate destruction by 
the genius of Camillus, and then gradually rose again to power 
and preponderance by her own inherent energy. To account 
for the slightness of the check which the Gallic conquest gave 
to her external prosperity, we must bear in mind that the attack 
of the Gauls was not really upon Rome alone, or even upon 
Rome specially and peculiarly. The first burst of their fury 
had fallen on the Etruscans, and had permanently weakened 
that important people. Their later irruptions injured the Italic 
nations generally, not Rome in particular. The Umbrians, 
Sabines, Latins, ^qui, and Volsci all suffered, perhaps about 
equally. Thus Rome, on the whole, succeeded in maintaining 
her place among the Italian states ; and, the same causes which 
had previously given her a preponderance continuing to work, 
she gradually lifted herself up once more above her neighbors. 
She warred successfully with the Volscians, and with several 
cities of the Latins, which were now leagued with them. She 
held her own in Etruria. After an interval of about a genera- 
tion she induced the Latins and compelled the Hernicans to 
resume their old position of confederates (B.C. 355) under her 
hegemony. Within five-and-thirty years of the destruction of 
the city, Rome had fully recovered from all the effects of the 
blow dealt by the Gauls ; and, if we take into account the gen- 
eral weakness caused by the Gallic ravages, had relatively im- 
proved her position. 

While Rome thus, on the whole, prospered externally, her 
internal condition was also gradually improving. The second 
military tribunate was not, indeed, very much more successful 
than the first, failing equally to content the aspirations of the 
Plebeian Order. Though it gave them a larger proportion of 
the high offices, the proportion was still so small — not so much 



312 RAWLINSON 

as one-twelfth — that their dissatisfaction, not unreasonably, 
continued. They never obtained the military tribunate ex- 
cepting under abnormal circumstances ; and on the single oc- 
casion on which they gained the censorship (B.C. 376), it was 
wrested from them under a religious pretext. The Patricians 
could still, ordinarily, command the votes of the centuries ; and, 
if a Plebeian obtained office, it was by Patrician sufferance or 
contrivance. Excepting under peculiar circumstances, the 
nobles were inclined to grasp as much power as they could; 
and hence the Plebeians felt that they had no firm hold on the 
constitution, no security for the continuance of even that small 
share of office which had practically fallen to them. They 
would probably have set themselves to obtain a change in the 
constitution many years before the Licinio-Sextian laws were 
actually brought forward, had not the Gallic invasion produced 
such an extent of poverty and debt as effectually cramped for 
a time all Plebeian aspirations, changing the struggle for equal 
rights into a struggle for existence. 

The first important result of the general prevalency of dis- 
tress among the Plebeians was the attempt of M. Manlius. 
Less pure and disinterested than his prototype, Spurius Cass- 
ius, he made the Plebeian wrongs the stalking-horse of his own 
ambition. Partly tempted, partly goaded into crime, he is en- 
titled to our pity even though we condemn him. His intentions 
were probably at the first honest, and the means that he de- 
signed to use legal ; but the opposition which he encountered 
drove him to desperate measures, and he became in the end 
a dangerous conspirator. Well would it have been for Rome 
had she possessed a method, like that which Athens enjoyed in 
the ostracism, of securing her own liberties by the temporary 
banishment, rather than the death, of a great citizen ! 

During the Manlian struggle, and immediately after it, some 
slight efforts were made by the government to relieve the gen- 
eral destitution. In B.C. 382 two thousand Plebeians received 
allotments of two and a half jugcra at Satricum. Two years 
later, colonies were sent out to Nepete in Etruria and to the 
Pontine marsh district. But these were mere palliatives, and 
in no way met or grappled with the disease. It was necessary, 
if the bulk of the Plebeian Order was not to be swept away from 



ANCIENT HISTORY 313 

the state, becoming the slaves of the Patricians or of foreigners, 
that measures should be taken on a large scale, both to meet 
the present distress, and to prevent such crises from recurring. 

Great difficulties call for, and seem in a way to produce, 
great men. Fourteen years after the distress had become con- 
siderable owing to the Gallic inroad, two Plebeians of high 
rank and great ability, C. Licinius Stolo and L. Sextius, came 
forward with a scheme of legislation skillfully framed so as to 
cover all the various heads of Plebeian grievance, and to pro- 
vide at once a remedy for the actually existing evils and secur- 
ity against future oppression. Considering that there were two 
kinds of evil to remedy, political inequality and want, they 
framed their measures against both. For the immediate relief 
of the needy, they brought forward their " lex dc arc alicno," 
which provided that whatever had been paid on any debt in 
the way^ of interest should be counted as a repayment of the 
principal and deducted from the amount due ; and that the 
balance remaining, if any, should be demandable only in in- 
stallments, which should be spread over the space of three 
years. For the prevention of the poverty in future, they pro- 
posed their " lex agraria " — which, in the first place, threw 
open the right of occupying the public land to the Plebeians ; 
in the second, affixed a limit beyond which occupation should 
not be carried ; and in the third, required all occupiers to em- 
ploy in the cultivation of their farms a certain definite propor- 
tion of free labor. For the establishment of the principle of 
political equality, they proposed the restoration of the consul- 
ship, with the proviso that one of the two consuls should each 
year be a Plebeian (lex dc consiilatu) ; and the equal division of 
a sacred office, that of the keepers of the Sibylline books, be- 
tween the two Orders (lex dc dccemviris sacrormn). 

The importance of these laws was immense. They estab- 
lished fully the principle of the equality of the two orders, both 
as respected sacred and civil office — a principle which, once 
admitted, was sure to work itself out to the full in course of 
time. They greatly alleviated the existing poverty, and by the 
two provisions for extending the right of occupation to Ple- 
beians, and compelling the employment of a large amount of 
free labor on the public lands, they made considerable provision 



314 RAWLINSON 

against extreme poverty in the future. Above all, they se- 
cured to the Plebeians a succession of champions in the highest 
offices of the State, who would watch over their interests and 
protect them against unfair treatment. Naturally, therefore, 
being so important, the laws were opposed with the utmost 
determination by the other Order. The struggle, according 
to some authorities, was of eleven years' duration. It was 
probably not until a " secession " had begun, or at any rate 
was threatened, that the Patricians yielded, the laws received 
the sanction of both the Senate and the Assembly of the nobles, 
and a Plebeian consul, L. Sextius, was elected, B.C. 363. 

It might have seemed that the struggle between the Orders 
would now have come to a close — that when the highest civil, 
and one of the highest religious, offices had been once opened 
to the Plebeian Order, there remained nothing which the other 
Order could regard as worth fighting for. But the fact was 
otherwise. Not only were there, now as ever, among the Patri- 
cians those who would not yield without a struggle even the 
last " rag of privilege ; " but there existed in the body at this 
time a party disinclined to view the recent defeat as decisive, 
or to accept it as final. During the quarter of a century which 
followed on the passage of the Licinio-Sextian laws, it was 
uncertain whether or no the Plebeian advance could be main- 
tained. A certain amount of reaction set in. For the space 
of fourteen years — from B.C. 352 to B.C. 339 — the regular 
operation of the Licinio-Sextian constitution was set aside. 
Instead of Plebeian consuls following each other in regular 
succession year after year, the Fasti show during the fourteen 
years seven Plebeian names only, while there are twenty-one 
Patrician. 

The illegal setting aside of the Licinio-Sextian constitution 
could not fail to produce among the more prudent and far- 
seeing of the Plebeians violent discontent. If a party in the 
State is once allowed to begin the practice of setting the law 
at nought, there is no saying where it will stop. The old 
champions of the Plebeian cause — the Licinii, Genucii, Publilii, 
etc. — must have been violently angered ; and as time went on 
and the illegality continued, the bulk of the Order must have 
become more and more disgusted with their own renegades 



ANCIENT HISTORY 315 

and with the Patrician usurpers. These last must have felt, 
during the whole time of the usurpation, that they walked upon 
a hidden volcano — that a tire might at any moment burst forth 
which would imperil the very existence of the community. 

It was probably with the view of pacifying and soothing the 
discontented, that the Patricians granted during this interval 
many boons to the poorer classes. The re-establishment of the 
uncial rate of interest (10 per cent.) in B.C. 351, and the subse- 
quent reduction of the rate by one-half in B.C. 344, were pop- 
ular measures, evidently designed to gratify the lower orders. 
The tax on the manumission of slaves (B.C. 354) would also 
please them, since it would fall wholly upon the wealthy. Of 
a still more popular character were the general liquidation of 
debts, in B.C. 349, by means of a Commission empowered to 
make advances from the treasury to all needy persons who 
could ofTer a fair security ; and the suspension of the property- 
tax, and spread of the debts over the space of three years, 
which were among the measures of relief adopted in B.C. 344. 
The practical opening to the Plebeians without a struggle of 
the civil offices parallel with the Consulate — the Dictatorship 
and the Mastership of the Knights (B.C. 353) — may also be 
regarded as among the politic concessions of this period, made 
for the sake of keeping the Plebeians in good humor, and pre- 
venting an outbreak. 

But, though these boons and blandishments effected some- 
thing, it was felt nevertheless that the state of afifairs was unset- 
tled, and that, on the occurrence of any convenient opportunity, 
there would probably be a rising. Accordingly the govern- 
ment determined, so far as in it lay, to avoid furnishing an 
opportunity ; and hence, for almost the first time in the history 
of the Roman State, we find a policy of peace adopted and 
steadily maintained for a series of years. Between the years 
B.C. 355 and 347, treaties of peace were concluded with all the 
important powers of Central Italy; and Rome left herself no 
enemy against whom she could legitimately commence a war 
excepting the shattered remnants of the Oscan nations and 
perhaps the Sabines of the tract beyond the Anio. 

At length, in B.C. 340, twelve years after the Licinio-Sex- 
tian constitution had been set aside, an occasion offered which 



3i6 RAWLINSON 

tempted the government to depart from its peace policy, and 
to run the risk of internal trouble which was well known to 
be implied in the commencement of a great and important war. 
The temptation, one which it was impossible to resist, was the 
ofifer of the Campanians to become Roman subject-allies, if 
Rome would protect them against the Samnites. To accept 
this ofifer was to more than double the Roman territory; to 
reject it was greatly to strengthen the Samnites, already the 
chief power of the south of Italy. The government, which 
though Patrician, was still Roman, was too patriotic to hesi- 
tate. Campania was therefore received into alliance, and the 
First Samnite War was the immediate consequence. 

The military operations of the war will be described in the 
next portion of this book (Third Period) ; but its efifect on the 
civil history is too closely connected with the period of which 
we are now treating to admit of separation from it. The Ro- 
man army, having carried on a successful campaign, wintered 
in Campania; and the soldier-citizens, having thus had an 
opportunity of consulting together, determined to mutiny. 
Some were for a " secession " to Capua, but the majority were 
for enforcing their will upon the usurping government at 
Rome. In vain the consuls, perceiving what was afloat, tried 
to disperse the army little by little before an outbreak should 
come. Their intention was perceived, and the mutiny took 
place at once. The army marched upon Rome and made its 
demands — the government met it with a hasty levy, but these 
troops refused to light. Long negotiations followed. At 
length, a tribune of the Plebs, a Genucius, proposed and carried 
through a series of laws, which were accepted on both sides 
as terms of reconciliation. The Licinian constitution was prac- 
tically re-established ; but it was enacted, as a just penalty on 
the Patricians for their repeated usurpation of both consul- 
ships, that, though both consuls might never legally be Patri- 
cians, it should be allowable for both of them to be Plebeians. 
To prevent any future seduction of a Plebeian party by the 
temptation of accumulated offices, it was enacted that no Ple- 
beian should henceforth hold the same office twice within ten 
years, or two offices in the same year. To alleviate the remain- 
ing pressure of debt, there was an absolute abolition of all out- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



317 



standing claims, and a law was passed making the lending of 
money upon interest illegal. Some military grievances were 
at the same time redressed, provision being made that no soldier 
should be dismissed the service without cause shown, and that 
no petty officer should be degraded to the ranks. On these 
conditions peace was re-established ; and domestic tranquillity 
being attained, Rome was once more ready to devote her whole 
strength to the forwarding of her interests abroad. 



THIRD PERIOD. 

History of Rome from the breaking out of the First Samnite 
War, B.C. 340, to the Commencement of the Wars with 
Carthage, B.C. 264.* 

The Third Period of Roman History is that of the great wars 
in Italy, whereby Rome succeeded in making herself mistress 
of the entire Peninsula proper. It comprises the four Samnite 
Wars, the great Latin War, the war with Pyrrhus, a war with 
the Gauls, and several minor wars terminating in the conquest 
of the other lesser Italian nations. The external history of the 
period is thus of the highest interest ; while the internal his- 
tory is, comparatively speaking, scanty and unimportant. 

When Rome determined to accept the Campanians as sub- 
ject-allies, she broke her treaty with Samnium, and practically 
made a declaration of war. Campania was a Samnite depen- 
dency which had revolted, and which the Samnites were bent 
on subjugating. The interposition of Rome in the quarrel re- 

* Sources. Authors. — Livy and Diodorus are the chief authorities 
for the earHer portion of this period; but the latter writer fails us after 
B.C. 302. The fragments of Appian's " Samnitica " are of some value. 
For the war with Pyrrhus, Plutarch's " Life " of that hero is the main 
source; but his narrative must be supplemented from the fragments 
of Dio Cassius, Dionysius, and Appian, and from the continuous nar- 
ratives of Justin, Orosius, and Zonaras. For the period following the 
departure of Pyrrhus from Italy (B.C. 275 to 264) these latter writers 
are almost our sole authorities. We may consult, however, with ad- 
vantage the " Epitomes " of Livy and the brief abstract of Florus. 
Inscriptions. — The Fasti Capitolini are full and tolerably continu- 
ous for the greater portion of this period. 



3i8 RAWLINSON 

sembled that of Athens in the contest between Corinth and 
Corcyra. Morally, it could not be justified ; but, as a matter 
of policy, it could not be impugned. Rome already saw that 
her most formidable Italian rival was Samnium, and that it 
was with Samnium she would have to contend for the first 
place in Italy. A step which at once strengthened herself and 
weakened her antagonist could not but be expedient; and 
we can not be surprised that, despite its injustice, the step was 
taken, 

Rome, about to engage in a war for supremacy with Latium, 
strengthened herself by an alliance with the knot of Sabine 
communities known as " the Marsian League." Latium ob- 
tained the adhesion of the Campanians, Sidicinians, and Vol- 
scians. Samnium was an active ally to neither party, but took 
the opportunity, which the contest offered, to advance her 
frontier on the side of the Volscian territory. The struggle 
between the two main belligerents was begun and concluded 
within the space of three years, and, indeed, was virtually de- 
cided by the events of the first campaign. The battles of Vesu- 
vius and Trifanum (B.C. 337) were stoutly contested by the 
Latins, but nevertheless were very decided Roman victories. 
Their effect was to break up the confederacy. Many states 
at once submitted. Others continued a desultory and inef- 
fectual resistance; but by the end of B.C. 335 the last Latin 
town had made its submission ; and Rome, having effected the 
conquest, proceeded to the work of pacification. 

The conclusion of the great struggle with Latium is followed 
by a pause of twelve years, during which Rome undertook 
nothing but trivial and unimportant wars, and those chiefly 
wars which were forced upon her. Her action was paralyzed 
by two causes, one internal, the other external. Her internal 
danger was from the subjected Latins, who were known to be 
discontented with their treatment, and might be expected to 
revolt the moment Rome should enter upon any important 
contest. The external cause of alarm was the invasion of Alex- 
ander of Epirus, uncle of Alexander the Great, who landed in 
Italy, B.C. 331, at the invitation of the Tarentines. Alexan- 
der's quarrel was mainly with the Samnites and their depen- 
dent allies; but, if he had been successful against them, he 



ANCIENT HISTORY 319 

would probably have attempted the conquest of Italy. Rome, 
doubtful of the result, protected herself by a treaty with the 
invader, and then nursed her strength and prepared herself to 
resist him if he should attack her. 

The reverses which befell Alexander of Epirus, about B.C. 
325, encouraged the Romans to resume their old policy of 
aggression, and to take steps which led naturally and almost 
necessarily to the renewal of the struggle with Samnium. By 
founding the colony of Fregellse on land conquered by the 
Samnites from the Volscians, a challenge was flung down to 
Samnium, which she could scarcely refuse to take up. This 
was followed by an attack on Palaeopolis, an independent Greek 
city, which had long been under Samnite protection. War 
ensued as a matter of course. The time had, in fact, come 
when Rome was prepared to contest, with the power which 
she recognized as her great rival, the mastery of Southern Italy. 
Mistress of Latium and Campania, and secured by treaties from 
any early Etruscan attack, she felt herself equal to a vast effort ; 
and she therefore determined to seize the occasion for a war 
which should decide whether the hegemony of the peninsula, 
or at any rate of its southern portion, should belong to herself 
or to the Samnites. 

The Second Samnite War — the duel between the two chief 
races of Italy — covered a space of twenty-one years, from B.C. 
323 to 303, inclusive. It divides itself naturally into three por- 
tions. During the first, from B.C. 323 to 319, the war lan- 
guished, neither party apparently putting forth its full strength. 
During the second, from B.C. 319 to 312, the issue was really 
determined by the three great battles, of the Caudine Forks, of 
Lautulae, and of Cinna. The third period, from B.C. 312 to 
303, was again one of languid hostilities, the war being un- 
duly spun out, partly by the stubborn resistance of the beaten 
party, partly through the desultory attacks which were made 
upon Rome during these years by various enemies. 

The Second Samnite War brought the disaffection of the 
Latins very rapidly to a head. In B.C. 322, the second year 
of the war, there was beyond a doubt a great Latin revolt. 
Tusculum, Velitrse, and Privernum, three of the cities which 
had experienced the harshest treatment, took the lead. A 



320 



RAWLINSON 



night attack seems to have been made on Rome, and great' 
alarm caused. The Roman government, however, met the 
danger with its usual wisdom. While some recommended 
measures of extreme violence, the Senate adopted a policy of 
conciliation. Terms were made with the rebels, some of whom 
were given, others promised, full citizenship. The discon- 
tented part of Latium was, in fact, incorporated into Rome. 
To mark the completeness and reality of the union, L. Fulvius, 
the leader of the revolt, became consul for the year, B.C. 321. 
Henceforth Latium was satisfied with its position, and con- 
tinued faithful through all the later troubles and rebellions. 

An interval of five years only — B.C. 303 to 298 — separates 
the Second from the Third Samnite War. Rome utilized it 
by completely reducing the remnant of the .^^quian people, by 
bringing the four nations forming the Marsian League into 
the position of her subject-allies, by making alliances with the 
Frentani and Picentini, and by seizing and occupying the 
strong position of Nequinum (Narnia) in Umbria. She also 
during this period sent aid to the Lucanians, who were at- 
tacked by Cleonymus of Sparta. Samnium probably nego- 
tiated, during the pause, with the Etruscans, Umbrians, and 
Gauls, taking steps towards the formation of that " League 
of Italy " which she brought to bear against Rome in the ensu- 
ing war. 

The Third Samnite War is the contest of confederated Italy 
against the terrible enemy whose greatness was now seen to 
threaten every power in the peninsula. Its turning-point, 
which well deserves its place among the ten or twelve " De- 
cisive Battles of the World," was the battle of Sentinum. After 
two years of comparatively petty warfare, Samnium, in B.C. 
296, brought the projected alliance to bear. Gellius Egnatius 
marched, with the flower of the Samnite force, across Central 
Italy into Etruria. The Gauls and Umbrians joined; and in 
B.C. 29s, the confederate army of the four nations advanced up- 
on Rome, which appeared to be on the brink of destruction. But 
a bold step taken by the Romans saved them. Instead of stand- 
ing merely on the defensive, they met the invaders with one 
army under the consuls Fabius and Decius, while they marched 
another into the heart of Etruria. On hearing this, the selfish 



ANCIENT HISTORY 321 

Etruscans, deserting their confederates, drew off to protect 
their own country. The Saninites and Gauls retired across the 
Apennines to Sentinum, losing the Umbrians on the way, who 
remained to protect their own towns. Rome followed the re- 
treating force, and after a desperate struggle defeated it, thus 
really deciding the war. The confederation was broken up. 
The Gauls took no further part in the contest. Rome carried 
it on separately with Etruria on the one side and Samnium 
on the other, till the exhaustion of both powers compelled them 
to make peace. Samnium was forced to submit uncondition- 
ally, was mulcted in a portion of its territory, and became a 
subject-ally of Rome. 

Ten years intervened between the close of the Third Samnite 
War and the commencement of the next great struggle in 
which Rome was engaged. Much obscurity rests upon this 
interval, in which we lose the guidance of Livy without obtain- 
ing that of Plutarch. It appears, however, that shortly after 
the close of the Third Samnite War troubles broke out afresh 
in Southern Italy in consequence of a war between the Luca- 
nians and the Greeks of Thurii, B.C. 288. Rome interfered 
to protect Thurii, whereupon the Lucanians effected a union 
against Rome of the Gauls (Senones), Etruscans, Umbrians, 
Samnites, Lucanians, Bruttians, and Tarentines, which, in the 
year B.C. 283, menaced the Republic with destruction. But, 
though brought into serious danger, Rome triumphed over 
her difficulties. Fabricius defeated the combined Lucanians 
and Bruttians, relieved Thurii, and received the submission 
of almost all the Greek towns of the neighborhood except Ta- 
rentum. Dolabella avenged on the Senonian Gauls the defeat 
of Metellus at Arretium, by seizing their country and driving 
them beyond its borders. The Etruscans, and their allies, the 
Boii (Gauls), were defeated with great slaughter at Lake Vadi- 
mon. Tarentum alone remained unpunished. It was prob- 
ably to inflict damage on this covert enemy, with whom as yet 
there had been no actual contest, that a Roman fleet was sent 
in B.C. 282, contrary to the terms of an existing treaty, to 
cruise round the heel of Italy. This fleet having been attacked 
and sunk by the Tarentines, who also took possession of Thu- 
rii, Rome in B.C. 281 declared war against Tarentum, v/hich, 



322 RAWLINSON 

accustomed to lean on Greece for support, invited over the 
Epirote prince Pyrrhus, who had already made himself a name 
by his victory over Demetrius Poliorcetes, and his first brief 
reign over Macedonia. 

The war with Pyrrhus lasted six years, from B.C. 280 to 274. 
It was the first trial of strength between Macedonized Greece 
and Rome. Pyrrhus brought with him into Italy an army of 
22,500 foot and 3000 horse, disciplined in the Macedonian fash- 
ion, and also 20 elephants. At the outset he obtained no troops 
from any Italians but the Tarentines, whose services were al- 
most worthless. Nevertheless, in his first battle on the Siris, 
though with an army inferior in number, he completely de- 
feated the Romans, chiefly by the help of his elephants, which 
disconcerted the Roman cavalry. All Lower Italy then joined 
him ; and, in the remainder of the contest, he had the assis- 
tance of the Italian Greeks generally, of the Lucanians, the 
Bruttians, and, above all, the Samnites. But neither after his 
first victory, near Heracleia, nor after his second, at Ausculum 
(Ascoli), was he able to effect any thing. The battles which' 
he gained were stoutly contested, and cost him, each of them, 
several thousands of men, whom he could not replace and could 
ill spare. His power necessarily waned as time went on. His 
allies, except the Samnites, were of little value. His Greek 
troops harmonized ill with the Italians. Above all, while he 
fought for glory, the Romans fought for their existence; and 
their patriotism and patient courage proved more than a match 
for the gallantry and brilliant strategy of their opponent. It 
was as much from disgust at his ill success, so far as the general 
ends of the war were concerned, as from the attraction of a 
tempting offer, that Pyrrhus, in B.C. 278, quitted Italy for 
Sicily, accepted the Protectorate of the Greeks, and engaged 
in a war with the Carthaginians which threw them on the Ro- 
man side. Successful in this quarter to a certain extent, but, 
with his usual restlessness, leaving his conquest uncompleted, 
the Epirote prince returned to Italy with difficulty ; and, hav- 
ing lost Sicily almost at the moment of his departure, engaged 
the Romans in a third battle near Beneventum, and being there 
completely defeated, gave up the war, and returned with the 
almost entire loss of his army, but with heightened reputation, 
to his native country. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 323 

The departure of Pyrrhus was followed rapidly by the com- 
plete subj agnation of Southern Italy. Tarentum surrendered 
B.C. 2'j2. Lucania and Bruttium submitted in the same year. 
Rhegium was stormed, B.C. 270. In Samnium a guerrilla war- 
fare was maintained till B.C. 269, when resistance finally ceased. 
The Sallentines and Messapians were conquered in B.C. 266. 
At the same time Rome extended and consolidated her power 
in the North. A quarrel was picked with Picenum in B.C. 268. 
War and subjection followed; and, to prevent future resist- 
ance, half the nation was torn from its native land and trans- 
planted to the opposite coast, where it received settlements 
on the Gulf of Salernum. In B.C. 266, Umbria was forced to 
make its submission ; and in the year following, Volsinii, the 
chief of the Etruscan towns, was besieged, taken, and razed to 
the ground. At the close of the year B.C. 265, Rome reigned 
supreme over the length and breadth of Italy, from the Macra 
to Tarentum and Rhegium. 

The chief means by which Rome established and secured her 
power was her system of colonies, with its supplement, her 
military roads. The foundation of colonies began, if we may 
believe the Roman historians, under the kings. At any rate, 
it is certain that early in the struggle between the combined 
Romans, Latins, and Hernici on the one hand and the Oscan 
nations on the other, the plan of establishing colonies, as gar- 
risons, in towns taken from the enemy, was very widely 
adopted. Such colonies were made up, in equal or nearly equal 
proportions, of citizens of the three nations, who together 
formed the burgher or Patrician body in the city where they 
took up their abode, the previous inhabitants counting only 
as a " Plebs." The system, thus employed by Rome in con- 
junction with her allies, was afterwards made use of copiously 
in the conquests which she effected for her own sole advantage. 
As Terminus advanced, either colonies of Roman citizens {colo- 
nicu civium Romanonim), who retained all their civic rights, or 
"Latin colonies " {colonics Latincc), consisting of Romans who 
by becoming colonists lost their rights of voting in the Roman 
" comitia " and of aspiring to honors {jus suffragii ct honorum), 
but retained the rest of their citizenship, were planted far and 
wide over Italy. These colonists, being Romans, having many 



324 



RAWLINSON 



Roman rights, and being planted in an invidious position 
among aliens, naturally clung to the mother-city, and were 
the great bulwarks of Roman power throughout the peninsula. 

Closely connected with the Roman colonial system was that 
of the military roads. The genius of Appius Claudius Csecus 
first conceived the idea of connecting Rome with her newly- 
annexed dependency, Campania, by a solid paved road of ex- 
cellent construction (B.C. 310 to 306). This road, which issued 
from the Porta Capena (Gate of Capua), passed through Aricia, 
Velitrse, Setia, Tarracina, Minturnse, Sinuessa, and Casilinum 
to Capua ; whence it was carried, probably as early as B.C. 291, 
to Venusia, and later to Brundusium. Much of the work still 
remains, and attracts the admiration of travellers. 

The mode in which Rome, having attained her supremacy, 
administered the government of Italy, was exceedingly com- 
plicated. It is impossible in a work like the present to do more 
than point out the main features of the system, and distinguish, 
one from another, the principal classes into which the popula- 
tion of the state was divided. Broadly, we may say that the 
Roman Republic bore sway in Italy over a host of minor re- 
publics. Self-government was most widely spread. Every 
colony was a sort of independent community, electing its own 
ofScers and administering its own afifairs. Every foreign city 
under their rule was recognized by the Romans as a separate 
state, and was placed on a certain definite footing with regard 
to the central community. The most highly favored were the 
focdcratcc civitatcs — states that had submitted to Rome upon 
terms varying of course in different cases, but in all implying 
the management of their own afifairs, the appointment of their 
own governors, and the administration of their own laws. Next 
to these in advantage of position were the municipta, foreign 
states which had received all the burdens together with some 
or all of the rights of Roman citizenship. Last of all came the 
dcdititii, natives of communities which had surrendered them- 
selves to Rome absolutely, and which had all the burdens with- 
out any of the rights of citizens. Roman law was administered 
in these communities by a governor (prafectus) appointed by 
Rome. 

Rome reserved to herself three principal rights, whereby 



ANCIENT HISTORY 325 

she regarded her sovereignty as sufficiently guarded. She 
alone might make peace or declare war; she alone might 
receive embassies from foreign powers ; and she alone 
might coin money. She had also undoubtedly the right of 
requiring from her subject-allies such contingents of troops 
as she needed in any war; which involved a further right of 
indirect taxation, since the contingents were armed and paid 
by the community which furnished them. She did not, like 
Athens, directly tax her subject-allies ; but she derived never- 
theless an important revenue from them. On the conquest of 
a state, Rome always claimed to succeed to the rights of the 
previously existing government ; and, as each Italian state had 
a public domain of some kind or other, Rome, as she pushed 
her conquests, became mistress of a vast amount of real prop- 
erty of various kinds, as especially mines, forests, quarries, fish- 
eries, salt-works, and the like. Further, generally, when a state 
submitted to her after a war, she required, beyond all these 
sources of revenue, the cession of a tract of arable or pasture 
land, which she added to her old " ager publicus." Thus the 
domain of Rome was continually increasing; and it was (at 
least in part) to collect the revenue from the domain through- 
out Italy that, in B.C. 267, the four " Italian quaestors " were 
appointed, " the first Roman functionaries to whom a resi- 
dence and a district out of Rome were assigned by law." 

The constitutional changes in Rome itself during the period 
under consideration were not very numerous or important. 
They consisted mainly in the carrying out to their logical result 
of the Licinio-Sextian enactments — in the complete equaliza- 
tion, that is, of the two Orders. By the laws of Publilius Philo, 
of Ovinius, and of the Ogulnii, the last vestiges of Patrician 
ascendency were removed, and the Plebeians were placed in 
all important respects on a complete equality with the Patri- 
cians. Admitted practically to a full moiety of the high gov- 
ernmental offices, they acquired by degrees, through the oper- 
ation of the Ovinian law, an influence fully equal to that of the 
Patricians in the Senate. By the tribunate, which remained 
exclusively theirs, they had even an advantage over the other 
Order. The strong-hold of the exclusive party, which last 
yielded itself, was, naturally, that of religious privilege. But 



326 RAWLINSON 

when the Pontificate and the Aiigurship were fairly divided 
between the Orders, the struggle between the " houses " and 
the commons was over, and there was nothing left for the latter 
to desire. 

But the termination of the internal struggle which had hith- 
erto occupied the commonwealth, and secured it against the 
deadly evil of political stagnation, was not complete before a 
new agitation manifested itself, an agitation of a far more dan- 
gerous character than that which was now just coming to an 
end. Hitherto the right of suffrage at Rome, at any rate in 
the more important of the two popular assemblies — the tribes 
(coinitia tributa) — had rested upon the double basis of free birth 
and the possession of a plot of freehold land. About B.C. 312, 
the class which these qualifications excluded from the fran- 
chise began to exhibit symptoms of discontent. Appius Clau- 
dius Csecus, one of the boldest of political innovators, perceiv- 
ing these symptoms, and either regarding them as a real peril to 
the State or as indicating an occasion which he might turn to 
his own personal advantage, being censor in the year above 
mentioned, came forward as the champion of the excluded 
classes, and, after vainly attempting to introduce individuals 
belonging to them into the Senate, enrolled the entire mass 
both in the centuries and in the tribes. Nor was this all. In- 
stead of assigning the new voters to the city tribes, within 
whose local limits they for the most part dwelt, Appius spread 
them through all, or a majority, of the tribes, and thus gave 
them practically an absolute control over the elections. Their 
power was soon seen, in the election of a freedman, Cn. Fla- 
vins, to the curule aedileship, which gave him a seat in the 
Senate for the remainder of his life; and in the election of 
tribunes who enabled Appius to prolong his term of ofifice ille- 
gally to the close of the fourth year. This was the inaugura- 
tion of a real ochlocracy, a government in which the prepon- 
derating weight belonged to the lowest class of the people. 
Evil consequences would no doubt have been rapidly devel- 
oped, had not the work of Appius been to a great extent un- 
done — the sting extracted from his measures — by the skill and 
boldness of two most sagacious censors. When Q. Fabius 
Maximus and P. Decius Mus, B.C. 304, removed all who were 



ANCIENT HISTORY 327 

without landed qualification and all the poorer freedmen from 
the country tribes, and distributed them among the four city 
tribes only, the revolutionary force of Ap. Claudius's proceed- 
ings was annulled, and nothing remained but a very harmless, 
and almost nominal enfranchisement of the lower orders. 
When the " factio forensis " could command the votes of four 
tribes only out of thirty-one, or ultimately of thirty-five, it was 
rendered powerless in the comitia tribitta. In the centuries it 
was of course even weaker, since there wealth had a vast pre- 
ponderance over mere numbers. 

The pressure of poverty still continued to be felt at Rome for 
many years after the Licinian, and even after the Genucian 
legislation. An insurrection, proceeding to the length of a 
secession, occurred in B.C. 287 in consequence of a wide- 
spread distress. An abolition of debts was found to be once 
more a State necessity, and was submitted to with a view to 
peace and the contentation of the poorer classes. But the tide 
of military success, which soon afterwards set in, put a stop 
for a long term of years to this ground of complaint and dis- 
turbance. The numerous and large colonies which were con- 
tinually being sent out from B.C. 232 to 177, were an effectual 
relief to the proletariate, and put an end for the time to any- 
thing like extreme poverty among Roman citizens. At the 
same time the farming of the revenue largely increased the 
wealth of the more opulent classes. It is not till about B.C. 
133 that we find the questions of debt and of the relief of pov- 
erty once more brought into prominence and recognized as 
matters which require the attention of statesmen. 

FOURTH PERIOD. '\ 

From the Commencement of the First War with Carthage to 
the Rise of the Civil Broils under the Gracchi, B.C. 264 
to 133.* 

In the Fourth Period of Roman History, as in the Third, 
and even more decidedly, the interest attaches itself to the 

* Sources. The most important of the ancient authorities for this 
period is Polybius, the earliest writer in whom we see fully developed 



328 RAWLINSON 

external relations of the people rather than to their in- 
ternal condition. The interval comprises the long struggle 
with Carthage, the Gallic War and conquest of the plain of the 
Po, the three Macedonian Wars, the war with Antiochus of 
Syria, the conquest of Greece, the Numantine War, and the 
reduction of most of the Spanish Peninsula. At the com- 
mencement of the period the dominion of Rome was confined 
to the mere peninsular portion of Italy ; at its close she bore 
sway over the whole of Southern Europe from the shores of the 
Atlantic to the straits of Constantinople, over the chief Medi- 
terranean islands, and over a portion of North Africa ; while, 
further, her influence was paramount throughout the East, 
where Pergamus and Egypt were her dependents, and Syria 
existed merely by her sufferance. In B.C. 264, she had just 
reached a position entitling her to count among the " Great 
Powers " of the world, as it then was ; to rank, i. e., with 
Carthage, Macedonia, and Syria; in B.C. 134, she had ab- 
sorbed two of these " Great Powers," and made the third a de- 
pendency. She was clearly the sole " Great Power " left ; or, 
if there was a second, it was the newly-formed empire beyond 
the Euphrates — that of the Parthians — which rose up as Syria 



the true spirit of historical criticism. If the great work of this author 
had come down to us in a complete form, we should no more have 
needed any other authority for the period treated in it, than we need 
any work, besides that of Thucydides, for the history of the Pelopon- 
nesian War, from B.C. 431 to 411. Unfortunately, the complete 
books descend no lower than B.C. 216; and even the fragments fail 
us from the year B.C. 146. Consequently, after B.C. 216 we have 
to depend very much upon other writers, as especially Livy, whose 
" Second Decade" covers the space from B.C. 218 to 166, thus taking 
up the history almost exactly where the complete books of Polybius 
break off. Next to Polybius and Livy may be placed Appian, whose 
" Punica," "Bellum Hannibalicum," and " Iberica" belong to this period 
and occasionally throw important light upon the course of events. The 
epitome of Florus is not here of much value. The biographer, Plu- 
tarch, on the other hand, is a considerable help, his " Lives " of Fabius 
Maximus, P. ^milius, Marcellus, M. Cato, and Flamininus falling, 
all of them, within this brief space of one hundred and thirty years. 
The short " Life of Hannibal " by Corn. Nepos possesses also some 
interest; and occasional aid may be derived from Diodorus, and 
Zonaras. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



329 



declined, and which ultimately remained the only counterpoise 
to the Roman state through the whole period of its greatness. 

The circumstances of the struggle with Pyrrhus, and the 
Southern Italians, had forced Rome to become to some extent 
a maritime power. As she gradually mastered Italy, it became 
necessary to protect her coasts, exposed as they were to attack 
from Epirus, from Sicily, from Carthage, even from Greece, as 
experience showed. Accordingly, a fleet began to be formed 
as early as B.C. 338, which received constant additions, and had 
by the year B.C. 267 acquired such importance that four 
" quaestors of the fieet " {quccstorcs classici) were then appointed, 
and stationed at different ports of Italy, with the special object 
of guarding the coasts and keeping the marine in an efficient 
condition. But this new tendency on the part of the great 
Italian state could not fail to provoke the jealousy of the chief 
maritime power of the Western Mediterranean, Carthage, 
whose policy it had always been to oppose the establishment of 
any naval rival in the waters which she regarded as her own. 
Thus, unfriendly feelings, arising out of a consciousness of 
clashing interests, had for some time been growing up between 
Carthage and Rome. Temporarily suspended during the 
height of the Pyrrhic War, when a common danger for a while 
drew the two states together, they burst out at its close in 
greater force than ever ; and nothing was needed but a decent 
pretext, in order that the two lukewarm allies should become 
open and avowed enemies. 

The pretext was not long wanting. The Mamertines, a 
body of Campanian mercenaries who had seized Messana, be- 
ing threatened with destruction by the combined Carthagin- 
ians and Syracusans, applied for help to Rome, and were 
readily received into her alliance. Rome invaded Sicily, and 
by an act of treachery made herself mistress of the disputed 
post. War with Carthage necessarily followed, a war for the 
possession of Sicily, and for maritime supremacy in the Medi- 
terranean. The most remarkable feature of the war was the 
rapid development of the Roman naval power during its course 
— a development which is without a parallel in the history of the 
world. With few and insignificant exceptions, the Romans 
were landsmen till B.C. 262. In that year they began to form a 



330 RAWLINSON 

powerful fleet. Qnly two years later, B.C. 260, they com- 
pletely defeated, under Duilius, the whole naval force of the 
Carthaginians ; and the supremacy thus acquired they succeed- 
ed in maintaining by the later victories of Regulus and Luta- 
tius. Their victories by sea emboldened them to send an army 
across to Africa, and to attack their enemy in his own country. 
Success at first attended the efforts of Regulus ; but after a lit- 
tle while he was involved in difhculties, and his entire army was 
either slain or captured. But notwithstanding this and numer- 
ous other disasters, the indomitable spirit of the Romans pre- 
vailed. After twenty-three years of perpetual warfare, 
Carthage felt herself exhausted, and sued for peace. The 
terms which she obtained required her to evacuate Sicily and 
the adjacent islands, to pay to Rome a war contribution of 2200 
talents, to acknowledge the independence of Hiero, king of 
Syracuse, and bind herself not to make war on him or his allies. 

The great importance of this war was, that it forced Rome to 
become a first-rate naval power. Though the Romans did not 
during its course obtain the complete mastery of the sea, they 
showed themselves fully a match for the Carthaginians on the 
element of which they had scarcely any previous experience. 
Their land force being much superior to that of Carthage, and 
their resources not greatly inferior, it became tolerably ap- 
parent that success would ultimately rest with them. Their 
chief deficiency was in generalship, wherein their commanders 
were decidedly surpassed, not only by the Carthaginian patriot 
Hamilcar, but even the mercenary Xanthippus. Here the Ro- 
man system was principally to blame, whereby the command- 
ers were changed annually, and the same person was expected 
to be able to command equally well both by land and by sea. 
Carthage continued her commanders in office, and had sep- 
arate ones for the land and the sea service. Even Carthage, 
however, was unwise enough to deprive herself of the services 
of many an experienced captain by the barbarous practice of 
putting to death any general or admiral who experienced a re- 
verse. 

An interval of twenty-three years separated the First from 
the Second Punic War. It was employed by both sides in en- 
ergetic efforts to consolidate and extend their power. Rome, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 331 

in B.C. 238, taking advantage of the position in which Carthage 
was placed by the revolt of her mercenaries, made herself mis- 
tress of the island of Sardinia, and when, upon the submission 
of the mercenaries, Carthage required its restoration, played 
the part of the wolf in the fable, declared herself injured by her 
victim, and threatened a renewal of the war. Exhausted 
Carthage had to purchase her forbearance by the cession of the 
island, and the payment of a fine amounting to 1200 talents, 
B.C. 237. Rome then proceeded to annex Corsica ; and soon 
afterwards (B.C. 227) she laid the foundation of her provincial 
system by the establishment of her first " Proconsuls," one to 
administer her possessions in Sicily, the other to govern Sar- 
dinia and Corsica. 

About the same time that she seized Sardinia, Rome was en- 
gaged in a war with the Boii (Gauls) and Ligures in North 
Italy, in which the Boii are said to have been the aggressors. 
Unsuccessful in their attempts during the campaigns of B.C. 
238 and 237, these barbarians, in B.C. 236, invited the aid of 
their kindred tribes from beyond the Alps ; but the allies after 
a little while fell out, and the Boii and Ligures were glad to buy 
peace of Rome by the cession of some of their lands. 

Rome, soon afterwards, showed herself for the first time on 
the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and took part in the afifairs of 
Greece. The decay of Grecian power had allowed the piratical 
dispositions of the Illyrians to have free course ; and the com- 
merce of the Adriatic, the coasts of Epirus and Corcyra, and 
perhaps even that of Italy to some extent, suffered from the 
constant attacks of Illyrian cruisers. Entreated to protect 
them by the unhappy Greek cities, the Romans, in B.C. 230, 
sent an embassy to Scodra, to require the cessation of the 
piracies. Their ambassadors were murdered ; and a war neces- 
sarily followed. Rome, in B.C. 229, with a fleet of 200 ships, 
cleared the Adriatic, made the Illyrians of Scodra tributary, 
established Demetrius of Pharos as dependent dynast over the 
coasts and islands of Dalmatia, and accepted the protectorate 
of the Greeks of Apollonia, Epidamnus, and Corcyra. In re- 
turn the Greeks acknowledged the Romans as their kin, and 
admitted them to participation in the Isthmian games and the 
Eleusinian mysteries. Thus Rome obtained a hold upon the 



332 RAWLINSON 

opposite side of the Adriatic, and a right of interference in the 
affairs of Greece. 

A still more important war soon followed. Rome, before 
engaging in any further enterprises beyond the limits of Italy, 
was anxious to extend her dominion to its natural boundary 
upon the north, the great chain of the Alps which shuts off 
Italy from the rest of Europe. With this view, she proceeded, 
about B.C. 232, to make large assignments of land, and plant 
new and important colonies, in the territory of the Senones, 
thus augmenting her strength towards the north and prepar- 
ing for a great contest with the Gauls. These last, finding 
themselves threatened, at once flew to arms. Obtaining aid 
from their kindred tribes in and beyond the Alps, they crossed 
the Apennines in B.C. 225, and spread themselves far and wide 
over Etruria, advancing as far as Clusium, and threatening 
Rome as in the days of Brennus. Three armies took the field 
against them, and though one, composed of Etruscans, was 
completely defeated, the two others, combining their attack, 
gained a great victory over the invaders near Telamon, and 
forced them to evacuate Etruria. Rome then carried the war 
into the plain of the Po. Having allied herself with the Veneti, 
and even with the Gallic tribe adjoining them, the Cenomani, 
she was able in a little time to reduce the whole tract to sub- 
jection. The Boii and Lingones submitted in B.C. 224 ; the 
Anari in B.C. 223 ; the Insubres were conquered after a fierce 
struggle, which occupied the years B.C. 223 and 222. Medio- 
lanum and Comum, the last towns which held out, submitted 
in the last-named year, and Roman dominion was at length 
extended to the great barrier of the Alps. 

These conquests were scarcely effected when fresh troubles 
broke out in Illyria. Demetrius of Pharos, dissatisfied with 
the position accorded him by the Romans, declared himself 
independent, attacked the Roman allies, and encouraged the 
Illyrians to resume the practice of piracy. Allied with An- 
tigonus Doson, he thought himself strong enough to defy the 
Roman power. But Antigonus dying, B.C. 220, and Philip, 
his successor, being a mere boy, a Roman army, in B.C. 219, 
chastised Demetrius, destroyed his capital, and drove him from 
his kingdom. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



333 



It was ill-judged in Rome to allow this petty quarrel to draw 
her attention to the East, when in the West an enemy had 
arisen, against whom her utmost efforts were now needed. 
From the moment that Carthage was not only robbed of Sar- 
dinia, but forced to pay a fine for having ventured to remon- 
strate against the wrong done her, the determination to resume 
the struggle with Rome at the first convenient opportunity be- 
came a fixed national sentiment. There was indeed a peace 
party in the Punic community ; but it had little weight or force. 
The advocates of war, who had found their fitting leaders in 
the warriors of the Barcine family — Hamilcar, his sons, and 
son-in-law — were all-powerful in the government ; and under 
them it became and remained the one sole object of Carthage 
to bring herself into a position in which she could hope to re- 
new her contest with her hated antagonist on such terms as 
might promise her a fair prospect of success. No sooner was 
the revolt of the mercenaries put down (B.C. 237) by the judi- 
cious efforts of Hamilcar Barca, than the project was formed 
of obtaining in Spain a compensation, and more than a com- 
pensation, for all that had been lost in Sicily, Sardinia, and the 
lesser islands. Hamilcar, in the last nine years of his Hfe, B.C. 
236 to 228, established the Carthaginian power over the whole 
of Southern and South-eastern Spain, the fairest portion of the 
peninsula. His work was carried on and completed in the 
course of the next eight years, B.C. 227 to 220, by his son-in- 
law, Hasdrubal. Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia were occu- 
pied. A warlike population, Iberic and Celtic, was reduced 
and trained to arms under Carthaginian officers. Towns were 
built ; trade prospered ; agriculture flourished. Above all, the 
rich silver-mines near Carthagena (Carthago Nova) were dis- 
covered and skilfully worked ; Spain more than paid her ex- 
penses ; and the home-treasury was amply provided with those 
" sinews of war " without which a sustained military effort is 
impossible. 

The indifference with which Rome saw this extension of the 
Carthaginian power is very surprising. She did indeed make 
alliance with the semi-Greek communities of Saguntum 
(Zacynthus) and Emporise about B.C. 226, and at the same time 
obtained a promise from Hasdrubal that he would not push his 



334 



RAWLINSON 



conquests beyond the Ebro ; but otherwise she appeared un- 
observant or careless of her rival's acquisitions. Probably she 
thought that the designs of Carthage were in the main com- 
mercial, and regarded an invasion of Italy from the side of 
Spain as simply an impossibility. Perhaps she thought her 
enemy's strength so much reduced, and her own so much in- 
creased, as to render it inconceivable that the struggle should 
ever be renewed, unless she chose at her own time to force a 
contest. As she remained mistress of the sea, and Carthage 
did not even make any effort to dispute her maritime su- 
premacy, it seemed difficult for her rival to attack her in any 
quarter, while it was easy for her to carry the war into any por- 
tion of the Carthaginian territory. 

But Hannibal, sworn from his boyhood to eternal hatred of 
Rome, had determined, as soon as he succeeded to the com- 
mand (B.C. 220), on the mode and route by which he would 
seek to give vent to his enmity, to save his own nation and at 
the same time destroy her foe. Fully appreciating the weak- 
ness of Carthage for defence, it was his scheme to carry the war 
without a moment's unnecessary delay into the enemy's coun- 
try, to give the Romans ample employment there, and see if 
he could not exhaust their resources and shatter their con- 
federacy. The land route from Spain to Italy had for him no 
terrors. He could count on the good dispositions of most of 
the Celtic tribes, who looked on him as the destined deliverer 
of Cisalpine Gaul from the iron gripe of Rome. He probably 
knew but little of the dangers and difficulties of crossing the 
Alps ; but he was well aware that they had been often crossed 
by the Gauls, and that he would find in the Alpine valleys an 
ample supply of friendly and experienced guides. Arrived in 
Cisalpine Gaul, he would have the whole population with him, 
and he would be able, after due consideration, to determine on 
his further course. With the veteran army which he brought 
from Spain, and with his own strategic ability, he trusted to 
defeat any force that Rome could bring into the field against 
him. For ultimate success he depended on his power of loos- 
ening the ties which bound the Italic confederacy together, of 
raising up enemies to Rome in Italy itself, and at the same time 
of maintaining his army in such efficiency that it might be dis- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 335 

tinctly recognized as master of the open field, incapable of be- 
ing resisted unless behind walls, or by defensive guerilla war- 
fare. With these views and objects, Hannibal, in B.C. 219, 
commenced the Second Punic War by laying siege to Sagun- 
tum. 

The issue of the Second Punic War was determined by the 
dauntless resolution and the internal vigor of Rome. She had 
opposed to her the most consummate general of antiquity ; a 
state as populous and richer in resources than her own ; a vet- 
eran army ; a possible combination of various powerful allies ; 
above all, an amount of disaffection among her own subjects, 
the extent of which could not be estimated beforehand, but 
which was at any rate sure to be considerable. Three battles 
showed that Hannibal was irresistible in the field, and taught 
the Romans to avoid general engagements. The third was 
followed by a wide-spread defection of the Roman subject-al- 
lies — all Italy from Samnium and Campania southward passed 
over to the side of Hannibal. But the rest of the federation 
stood firm. Not a Latin deserted to the enemy. Central Italy 
from sea to sea held to Rome. She had the resources of Etru- 
ria, Umbria, Picenum, Sabina, Latium, to draw upon, besides 
her own. By immense efforts, including the contraction of a 
large National Debt, she contrived to maintain her ground, 
and gradually to reduce Hannibal to the defensive. The alli- 
ances, by which Hannibal sought to better his position, with 
Syracuse, B.C. 215, and with Philip of Macedon, B.C. 216, did 
him scant service, Rome in each case meeting the new enemy 
on his own ground, and there keeping him fully employed. 
The hopes of a successful issue to Carthage then rested upon 
the junction of the second army of Spain, under Hasdrubal, 
with the reduced force of Hannibal in Italy, a junction frus- 
trated by the battle of the Metaurus, v/hich was thus the turn- 
ing-point of the war. After this reverse, the transfer of the war 
into Africa was a matter of course ; and this transfer rendered 
necessary the recall of Hannibal from Italy and the relinquish- 
ment of all the great hopes which his glorious enterprise had 
excited. There remained just a possibility that in a last 
pitched battle on his native soil, Hannibal's genius might re- 
establish the superiority of the Carthaginian arms, J3ut the 



336 RAWLINSON 

battle of Zama removed this final chance. Hannibal met in 
Scipio Africanus a general, not indeed his equal, but far su- 
perior to any of those with whom he had been previously en- 
gaged ; and, his troops being mostly of inferior quality, he suf- 
fered, through no fault of his own, the great defeat which 
rendered further resistance impossible. Carthage, after Zama, 
became a dependent Roman ally. 

The gains of Rome by the Second Punic War were, in the 
first place, the complete removal of Carthage from the position 
of a counterpoise and rival to that of a small dependent com- 
munity, powerless for good or evil; secondly, the addition 
to the Roman land dominion of the greater part of Spain, which 
was formed into two provinces, Citerior and Ulterior ; thirdly, 
the absorption of the previously independent state of Syracuse 
into the Roman province of Sicily ; fourthly, the setting up of 
a Roman protectorate over the native African tribes ; and fifth- 
ly, the full and complete establishment of Roman maritime 
supremacy over the whole of the Western Mediterranean. The 
war further tended to the greater consolidation of the Roman 
power in Italy. It crushed the last reasonable hopes of the 
Ligurians and Gauls in the north. It riveted their fetters more 
firmly than ever on the non-Latin races of the centre and the 
south, the Umbrians, Etruscans, Sabines, Picentians, Apulians, 
Bruttians. Throughout Italy large tracts of land were confis- 
cated by the sovereign state; and fresh colonies of Romans 
and Latins were sent out. In Campania and the southern 
Picenum, the whole soil was declared forfeit. The repulse of 
Hannibal involved a second subjugation of Italy, more com- 
plete and more harsh than the first. Everywhere, except in 
Latium, the native races were depressed, and a Latin dominion 
was established over the length and breadth of the land. 

Another result of the Hannibalic War, which completed the 
subjugation of the Western Mediterranean basin, was to hasten 
the collision between the aggressive Republic and the East, 
which had long been evidently impending. Already, as early 
as B.C. 273, Rome had entered into friendly relations with 
Egypt, and even before this she had made a commercial 
treaty with Rhodes, About B.C. 245, she had offered to 
King Ptolemy Euergetes a contingent for his Syrian War; 



ANCIENT HISTORY 337 

and soon afterwards she interceded with Seleucus CalHnicus 
on behalf of the Ihans, her " kindred." Her wars with the 
Illyrian pirates, B.C. 229 to 219, had brought her into con- 
tact with the states of Greece, more particularly with the ^to- 
lians ; and finally, the alliance of Philip, king of Macedon, with 
Hannibal, had forced her to send a fleet and army across the 
Adriatic, and had closely connected her with Elis, with 
Sparta, and even with the Asiatic kingdom of Pergamus. 
Circumstances had thus drawn her on, without any distinctly 
ambitious designs on her part, to an interference in the 
affairs of the East — an interference which, in the existing con- 
dition of the Oriental world, could not but have the most mo- 
mentous consequences. For throughout the East, since the 
time of Alexander, all things had tended to corruption and de- 
cay. In Greece, the spirit of patriotism, feebly kept alive in the 
hearts of a select few, such as Aratus and Philopoemen, was 
on the point of expiring. Intestine division made the very 
name of Hellas a mockery, and pointed her out as a ready prey 
to any invader. In Macedonia luxury had made vast strides ; 
military discipHne and training had been neglected; loyalty 
had altogether ceased to exist ; little remained but the inheri- 
tance of a great name and of a system of tactics which was of 
small value, except under the animating influence of a good 
general. The condition of the other Alexandrine monarchies 
was even worse. In Syria and in Egypt, while the barbarian 
element had been raised but slightly above its natural level 
by Hellenic influence, the Hellenic had suffered greatly by its 
contact with lower types of humanity. The royal races, Se- 
leucids and Ptolemies, were effete and degenerate; the armed 
force that they could bring into the field might be numerous, 
but it was contemptible ; and a general of even moderate abil- 
ities was a rarity. It was only among the purely Asiatic mon- 
archies of the more remote East that any rival, really capable 
of coping with Rome, was now likely to show itself. The 
Macedonian system had lived out its day, and was ready to give 
place to the young, vigorous, and boldly aggressive power 
which had arisen in the West. 

The conclusion of peace with Carthage was followed rapidly 
by an attack on Macedonia, for which the conduct of Philip 
22 



338 RAWLINSON 

had furnished only too many pretexts. Philip had probably 
lent aid to Carthage in her final struggle : he had certainly 
without any provocation commenced an aggressive war against 
Rome's ancient ally, Egypt, and he had plunged also into 
hostilities with Attalus and the Rhodians, both of whom were 
among the friends of Rome, the former being protected by a 
treaty. Rome was bound in honor to aid her allies ; and no 
blame can attach to her for commencing the Second Mace- 
donian War in B.C. 200, and despatching her troops across 
the Adriatic. Her conduct of the war was at first altogether 
mediocre ; but from the time that T. Quinctius Flamininus 
took the command (B.C. 198) it was simply admirable, and 
deserved the success which attended it. The proclamation of 
general liberty to the Grecian states, while it could not fail of 
being popular, and was thus excellently adapted to deprive 
Philip oi his Hellenic allies, and to rally to the Roman cause 
the whole power of Hellas, involved no danger to Roman in- 
terests, which were perfectly safe under a system that estab- 
lished universal disunion. The gift of liberty to the Greeks by 
Rome in B.C. 198, is parallel to the similar gift of universal 
autonomy to the same people by Sparta and Persia in B.C. 387 
at the " Peace of Antalcidas." On both occasions, the idda 
under which the freedom was conceded was that expressed by 
the maxim " Divide et impera." The idea was not indeed now 
carried out to an extreme length. There was no dissolution 
of the leagues of Achsea, ^tolia, or Boeotia. These leagues 
were in fact too small to be formidable to such a power as 
Rome. And as they had embraced the Roman side during 
the continuance of the war, their dissolution could scarcely 
be insisted on. Thessaly however was, even at this time, in 
pursuance of the policy of separation, split up into four govern- 
ments. 

The battle of Cynoscephalae, by which the Second Macedo- 
nian War was terminated, deserves a place among the " Deci- 
sive Battles of the World." The relative strength of the " le- 
gion " and the " phalanx " was then for the first time tried 
upon a grand scale ; and the superiority of the " legion " was 
asserted. No doubt, man for man, the Roman soldiers were 
better than the Macedonian; but it was not this superiority 



ANCIENT HISTORY 339 

which gained the day. The phalanx, as an organization, was 
clumsy and unwieldy; the legion was light, elastic, adapted 
to every variety of circumstances. The strength and weakness 
of the phalanx were never better shown than at Cynoscephalge ; 
and its weakness — its inability to form quickly, to maintain its 
order on uneven ground, or to change front — lost the battle. 
The loss was complete, and irremediable. Macedonia was 
vanquished, and Rome became thenceforth the arbitress of the 
world. 

While her arms were thus triumphant in the East, Rome 
was also gaining additional strength in the West. In the very 
year of the conclusion of peace with Carthage, B.C. 201, she 
recommenced hostilities in the plain of the Po, where the Gauls 
had ever since the invasion of Hannibal defied the Roman 
authority and maintained their independence. It was neces- 
sary to reconquer this important tract. Accordingly, from 
B.C. 201 to 191, the Romans were engaged in a prolonged 
Gallic War in this district, in which, though ultimately success- 
ful, they suffered many reverses. Their garrisons at Placentia 
and Cremona were completely destroyed and swept away. 
More than one pitched battle was lost. It was only by ener- 
getic and repeated efiforts, and by skilfully fomenting the di- 
visions among the tribes, that Rome once more established 
her dominion over this fair and fertile region, forcing the Gauls 
to become her reluctant subjects. 

The conquest of Gallia Cisalpina was followed by a fresh 
arrangement of the territory. The line of the Po was taken 
as that which should bound the strictly Roman possessions, 
and while " Gallia Transpadana " was relinquished to the na- 
tive tribes, with the exception of certain strategic points, such 
as Cremona and Aquileia, " Gallia Cispadana " was incorpo- 
rated absolutely into Italy. The colonies of Placentia and Cre- 
mona were re-established and reorganized. New foundations 
were made at Bononia (Bologna), Mutina (Modena), and 
Parma in the Boian country. The ^milian Way was carried 
on (B.C. 187) from Ariminum to Placentia. The Boians and 
Lingones were rapidly and successfully Latinized. Beyond 
the Po, the Gallic communities, though allowed to retain their 
existence and their native governments, and even excused from 



340 RAWLINSON 

the payment of any tribute to their conquerors, were regarded 
as dependent upon Rome, and were especially required to check 
the incursions of the Alpine or Transalpine Celts, and to allow 
no fresh immigrants to settle on the southern side of the moun- 
tain-chain. 

Meanwhile, in the East, the defeat of Philip, the withdrawal 
of the Romans, and the restoration of the Greeks to freedom, 
had been far from producing tranquillity. The ^tolian robber- 
community was dissatisfied with the awards of Flamininus, 
and hoped, in the scramble that might follow a new war, to gain 
an increase of territory. Antiochus of Syria was encouraged 
by the weakness of Macedon to extend his dominions in Asia 
Minor, and even to effect a lodgment in Europe, proceedings 
which Rome could scarcely look upon with indifference. War 
broke out in Greece in the very year that Flamininus quitted 
it, B.C. 194, by the intrigues of the ^tolians, who were bent 
on creating a disturbance. At the same time, Antiochus 
showed more and more that he did not fear to provoke the 
Romans, and was quite willing to measure his strength against 
theirs, if occasion offered. In B.C. 195 he received Hannibal 
at his court with special honors; and soon afterwards he en- 
tered into negotiations which had it for their object to unite 
Macedonia, Syria, and Carthage against the common foe. In 
B.C. 194 or 193 he contracted an alliance with the ^tolians; 
and finally, in B.C. 192, he proceeded with a force of 10,500 
men from Asia into Greece. 

This movement of Antiochus had been foreseen by the 
Romans, who about the same time landed on the coast of 
Epirus with a force of 25,000 men. War was thus, practically, 
declared on both sides. The struggle was, directly and imme- 
diately, for the protectorate of Greece; indirectly and pros- 
pectively, for political ascendency. Antiochus " the Great," as 
he was called, the master of all Asia from the valley of the In- 
dus to the ^gean, thought himself quite competent to meet and 
defeat the upstart power which had lately ventured to inter- 
meddle in the affairs of the " Successors of Alexander." Nar- 
row-minded and ignorant, he despised his adversary, and took 
the field with a force absurdly small, which he could without 
difficulty have quadrupled. The natural result followed. Rome 



ANCIENT HISTORY 341 

easily defeated him in a pitched battle, drove him across the 
sea, and following him rapidly into his own country, shattered 
his power, and established her own prestige in Asia, by the 
great victory of Magnesia, which placed the Syrian empire at 
her mercy. Most fortunate was it for Rome that the sceptre 
of Syria was at this time wielded by so weak a monarch. Had 
the occupant of the Seleucid throne possessed moderate ca- 
pacity ; had he made a proper use of his opportunities ; had 
he given the genius of Hannibal, which was placed at his dis- 
posal, full scope ; had he, by a frank and generous policy, at- 
tached Philip of Macedon to his side, the ambitious Republic 
might have been checked in mid-career, and have suffered a 
repulse from which there would have been no recovery for 
centuries. 

The " moderation " of Rome after the battle of Magnesia 
has been admired by many historians ; and it is certainly true 
that she did not acquire by her victory a single inch of fresh 
territory, nor any direct advantage beyond the enrichment of 
the State treasury. But indirectly the advantages which she 
gained were considerable. She was able to reward her allies, 
Eumenes of Pergamus and the Rhodians, in such a way as to 
make it apparent to the whole East that the Roman alliance 
was highly profitable. She was able to establish, and she did 
establish, on the borders of Macedonia, a great and powerful 
state, a counterpoise to the only enemy which she now feared 
in Europe. She was able to obtain a cheap renown by pro- 
claiming once more the liberty of Greece, and insisting that 
the Greek cities of Asia Minor, or at any rate those which had 
lent her aid, should be recognized as free — a proclamation 
which cost her nothing, and whereby she secured herself a 
body of friends on whose services she might hereafter count 
in this quarter. That she was content with these gains, that 
she evacuated Asia Minor, as she had previously evacuated 
Greece, was probably owing to the fact that she was not as 
yet prepared to occupy, and maintain her dominion over, 
countries so far distant from Rome. She had found the diffi- 
culty of holding even Spain as a part of her empire, and was 
forced by the perpetual attacks of the unconquered and revolts 
of the conquered natives to maintain there perpetually an army 



342 RAWLINSON 

of 40,000 men. She had not yet made up her mind to annex 
even Greece ; much less, therefore, could she think of holding 
the remote Asia Minor. It was sufficient for her to have re- 
pulsed a foe who had ventured to advance to her doors, to have 
increased her reputation by two glorious campaigns and a 
great victory, and to have paved the way for a future occupa- 
tion of Western Asia, if circumstances should ever render it 
politic. 

In Greece, the defeat of Antiochus was followed, necessarily, 
by the submission of the ^tolians, who were mulcted in large 
portions of their territory and made to pay a heavy fine. Rome 
annexed to her own dominions only Cephallenia and Zacyn- 
thus, distributing the rest among her allies, who, however, were 
very far from being satisfied. The Achaean League and Philip 
were both equally displeased at the.limits that were set to their 
ambition, and were ready, should opportunity offer, to turn 
their arms against their recent ally. 

In the West, four wars continued to occupy a good deal, of 
the Roman attention. Spain was still far from subdued ; and 
the Roman forces in the country were year after year engaged 
against the Lusitani or the Celtiberi, with very doubtful suc- 
cess, until about B.C. 181 to 178, when some decided advan- 
tages were gained.. In the mountainous Liguria the freedom- 
loving tribes showed the same spirit which has constantly been 
exhibited by mountaineers, as by the Swiss, the Circassians, 
and others. War raged in this region from B.C. 193 to 170; 
and the Roman domination over portions of the Western 
Apennines and the maritime Alps was only with the utmost 
difficulty established by the extirpation of the native races or 
their transplantation to distant regions. No attempt was made 
really to subjugate the entire territory. It was viewed as a 
training-school for the Roman soldiers and officers, standing 
to Rome very much as Circassia long stood to Russia, and as 
Algeria even now stands to France. In Sardinia and in Cor- 
sica perpetual wars, resembling slave-hunts, were waged with 
the native races of the interior, especially in the interval from 
B.C. 181 to 173. 

The discontent of Philip did not lead him to any rash or 
imprudent measures. He defended his interests, so far as was 



ANCIENT HISTORY 343 

possible, by negotiations. When Rome insisted, he yielded. 
But all the while, he was nursing the strength of Macedonia, 
recruiting her finances, increasing the number of her allies, 
making every possible preparation for a renewal of the strug- 
gle, which had gone so much against him at Cynoscephalse. 
Rome suspected him, but had not the face to declare actual 
war against so recent an ally and so complaisant a subordinate. 
She contented herself with narrowing his dominions, strength- 
ening Eumenes against him, and sowing dissensions in his 
family. Demetrius, his younger son, who lived at Rome as a 
hostage, was* encouraged to raise his thoughts to the throne, 
which he was given to understand Rome would gladly see him 
occupy. Whether Demetrius was willing to become a " cat's- 
paw " is not apparent ; but the Roman intrigues on his behalf 
certainly brought about his death, and caused the reign of 
Philip to end in sorrow and remorse, B.C. 179. 

The accession of Perseus to the Macedonian throne was 
only so far a gain for Rome that he was less competent than 
Philip to conduct a great enterprise. In many respects the 
position of Macedonia was bettered by the change of sover- 
eigns. Perseus, a young and brave prince, was popular, not 
only among his own* subjects, but throughout Greece, where 
the national party had begun to see that independence was an 
impossible dream, and that the choice really lay between sub- 
jection to the wholly foreign Romans and to the semi-Hellenic 
and now thoroughly Hellenized Macedonians. Perseus, again, 
had no personal enemies. The kings of Syria and Egypt, who 
could not forgive his father the wrongs which they had suf- 
fered at his hands, had no quarrel with the present monarch ; 
to whom the former (Seleucus IV.) readily gave his daughter 
in marriage. The design of Philip to re-establish Macedonia 
in a position of real independence was heartily adopted by his 
successor; and Rome learnt by every act of the new prince, 
that she had to expect shortly an outbreak of hostilities in this 
quarter. 

Yet, for a while, she procrastinated. Her wars with Liguria, 
Sardinia, and Corsica still gave her occupation in the West, 
while a new enemy, the Istri, provoked by the establishment 
of her colony of Aquileia (B.C. 183), caused her constant 



344 



RAWLINSON 



n 



trouble and annoyance in the border land between Italy and 
Macedon, the Upper Illyrian country. But, about B.C. 172, 
it became clear that further procrastination would be fatal to 
her interests — would, in fact, be equivalent to the withdrawal 
of all further interference with the affairs of Greece and the 
East. Perseus was becoming daily bolder and more powerful. 
His party among the Greeks was rapidly increasing. The 
^tolians called in his aid. The Boeotians made an alliance with 
him. Byzantium and Lampsacus placed themselves under his 
protection. Even the Rhodians paid him honor and observ- 
ance. If the protectorate of Greece was not to slip from the 
hands of Rome and to be resumed by Macedon, it was high 
time that Rome should take the field and vindicate her preten- 
sions by force of arms. Accordingly, in the autumn of B.C. 
172, an embassy was sent to Perseus, with demands wherewith 
it was impossible that he should comply ; and when the envoys 
were abruptly dismissed, war was at once declared. 

The victory of Pydna, gained by L. ^milius Paullus (June 
22, B.C. 168), was a repetition of that at Cynoscephalae, but 
had even more important consequences. Once more the le- 
gion showed itself superior to the phalanx ; but now the pha- 
lanx was not merely defeated but destroyed, and with it fell 
the monarchy which had invented it and by its means attained 
to greatness. Nor was this the whole. Not only did the king- 
dom of Alexander perish at Pydna, 144 years after his death, 
but the universal dominion of Rome over the civilized world 
was thereby finally established. The battle of Pydna was the 
last occasion upon which a civilized foe contended on some- 
thing like equal terms with Rome for a separate and indepen- 
dent existence. All the wars in which Rome was engaged 
after this were either rebellions, aggressive wars upon barba- 
rians with a view to conquest, or defensive wars against the 
barbarians who from time to time assailed her. The victories 
of Zama, Magnesia, and Pydna convinced all the world but 
the " outer barbarians " that it was in vain to struggle against 
Roman ascendency, that safety was only to be found in sub- 
mission and obedience. Hence the progress of Rome from 
this time was, comparatively speaking, peaceful. Her suc- 
cesses had now reduced the whole civilized world to depen- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



345 



dence. When it was her pleasure to exchange dependence for 
actual incorporation into her empire, she had simply to de- 
clare her will, and was, generally, unresisted. Occasionally, 
indeed, the state marked out for absorption would in sheer 
despair take up arms ; e. g., Achaea, Carthage, Judaea. But 
for the most part there was no struggle, merely submission. 
Greece (except Achsea), Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, 
were annexed peaceably; and the only remaining great war 
of the Republic was with the barbarian, Mithridates of Pontus. 

But Rome, though her military successes had elevated her 
to this commanding position, was still loath to undertake the 
actual government of the countries over which she had estab- 
lished her ascendency. Her experiment in Spain was not en- 
couraging ; and she would willingly have obtained the advan- 
tages of a widely-extended sway, without its drawbacks of 
enlarged responsibilities and ever-recurring difficulties and 
entanglements. Accordingly, her policy was still to leave the 
conquered regions to rule themselves, but at the same time so 
to weaken them by separation, that they might never more be 
formidable, and so to watch over and direct their proceedings 
that these might in no way clash with the notions which she 
entertained of her own interests. Moreover, as she saw no 
reason why she should not obtain permanent pecuniary advan- 
tage from her victories, she determined to take from both 
Illyricum and Macedonia a land-tax equal to one-half of the 
amount which had been previously exacted by the native 
sovereigns. 

While, however, professedly leaving the countries which she 
had conquered to govern themselves, Rome could not bring 
herself really to let them act as they pleased. What she did 
was to substitute for government a system of surveillance. 
Everywhere she was continually sending commissioners (Ic- 
gati), who not merely kept her acquainted with all that passed 
in the states which they visited, but actively interfered with 
the course of government, suggesting certain proceedings and 
forbidding others, acting as referees in all quarrels between 
state and state, giving their decisions in the name of Rome, 
and threatening her vengeance on the recalcitrant. 

The subjugation of the enemies of Rome was always fol- 



346 RAWLINSON 

lowed by a tendency on her part to quarrel with her friends. 
Her friends were maintained and strengthened merely as coun- 
terpoises to some foe ; and when the foe ceased to exist or to 
be formidable, the friends were no longer needed. Thus the 
fall of Macedonia and complete prostration of Greece produced 
an immediate coolness between Rome and her chief Eastern 
allies, Pergamus and Rhodes. 

The vast prestige which Rome acquired by the victory of 
Pydna is strikingly shown by the fact that she was able in the 
same year to deprive Antiochus Epiphanes of the fruits of all 
his Egyptian successes, by a mere command haughtily issued 
by her commissioner, Popillius. Antiochus withdrew from 
Egypt when he was on the point of conquering it ; and even 
relinquished the island of Cyprus to his antagonist. Rome al- 
lowed him, however, to retain possession of Coele-Syria and 
Palestine. 

The pacification of the East was followed by another of those 
pauses which occur from time to time in the history of the 
Roman Republic, after a great effort has been made and a 
great success attained, when the government appears to have 
been undecided as to its next step. Eighteen years intervene 
between the close of the Third Macedonian and the commence- 
ment of the Third Punic War — eighteen years, during which 
Rome was engaged in no contest of the least importance, un- 
less it were that which continued to be waged in Spain against 
the Lusitanians and a few other native tribes. She did not, 
indeed, ever cease to push her dominion in some quarter. In 
the intervals between her great wars, she almost always prose- 
cuted some petty quarrels ; and this was the case in the interval ' 
between B.C. i68 and 150, when she carried on hostilities with , 
several insignificant peoples, as the Celtic tribes, in the Alpine ' 
valleys, the Ligurians of the tract bordering on Nicasa (Nice) 
and Antipolis (Antibes), the Dalmatians, the Corsicans, and 
others. 

But the time came when the government was no longer con- 
tent with these petty and trivial enterprises. After eighteen 
years of irresolution, it was decided to take important matters 
in hand — to remove out of the way the city which, however 
reduced, was still felt to be Rome's sole rival in the Western 



ANCIENT HISTORY 347 

world, and to assume the actual government of a new depen- 
dency in a new continent. The determination to destroy Car- 
thage and to form Africa into a province, was in no way forced 
upon Rome by circumstances, but was decided upon after 
abundant deliberation by the predominant party in the state, 
as the course best calculated to advance Roman interests. The 
grounds of quarrel with Carthage were miserably insufficient ; 
and the tyranny of the stronger was probably never exerted in 
a grosser or more revolting form, than when Rome required 
that Carthage, which had observed, and more than observed, 
every obligation whereto she was bound in treaty, should nev- 
ertheless, for the greater advantage of Rome, cease to exist. 
It was not to be expected that the idea of a political suicide 
would approve itself to the Carthaginian government. But 
less than this would not content Rome, which, having first se- 
cured every possible advantage from the inclination of her ad- 
versary to make sacrifices for peace, revealed finally a require- 
ment that could not be accepted without war. 

The Third Punic War lasted four years — from B.C. 149 to 
146 inclusive. It was a struggle into which Carthage entered 
purely from a feeling of despair, because the terms ofifered to 
her — the destruction of the city, and the removal of the people 
to an inland situation — were such that death seemed preferable 
to them. The resistance made was gallant and prolonged, 
though at no time was there any reasonable hope of success. 
Carthage was without ships, without allies, almost without 
arms, since she had recently surrendered armor and weapons 
for 200,000 men. Yet she maintained the unequal fight for 
four years, exhibiting a valor and an inventiveness worthy of 
her best days. At length, in B.C. 146, the Romans under 
Scipio ^milianus, forced their way into the town, took it al- 
most house by house, fired it in all directions, and ended by 
levelling it with the ground. The Carthaginian territory was 
then made into the " province " of " Africa ; " a land-tax and 
poll-tax were imposed ; and the seat of government was fixed 
at Utica. 

During the continuance of the Carthaginian War, troubles 
broke out in the Hellenic peninsula, which enabled Rome to 
pursue in that quarter also the new policy of annexation and 



348 ' RAWLINSON 

absorption. A pretender, who gave out that he was the son of 
Perseus, raised the standard of revolt in Macedonia, defeated 
the Romans in a pitched battle, B.C. 149, and invaded Thes- 
saly, but was in the following year himself defeated and made 
prisoner by Metellus. The opportunity was at once taken of 
reducing Macedonia into the form of a " province." At the 
same time, without even any tolerable pretext, a quarrel was 
picked with the Achaean League, B.C. 148, which was required 
to dissolve itself. A brief war followed which was terminated 
by Mummius, who plundered and destroyed Corinth, B.C. 146. 
Achsea was then practically added to the empire, though she 
was still allowed for some years to amuse herself with some of 
the old forms of freedom, from which all vital force had de- 
parted. 

But while Rome was thus extending herself.in the South and 
in the East, and adding new provinces to her empire, in her 
old provinces of the West her authority was fiercely disputed ; 
and it was with the utmost difficulty that she maintained herself 
in possession. The native tribes of the Spanish Peninsula 
were brave and freedom-loving ; their country was strong and 
easy of defence ; and Rome found it almost impossible to sub- 
jugate them. The Roman dominion had indeed never yet 
been established in the more northern and western portions of 
the country, which were held by the Lusitani, the Gallaeci, the 
Vaccsei, and the Cantabri ; and a perpetual border war was con- 
sequently maintained, in which the Roman armies were fre- 
quently worsted. The gallantry and high spirit of the natives 
was especially shown from B.C. 149 to 140 under the leadership 
of the Lusitanian, Viriathus ; and again from B.C. 143 to 133, 
in the course of the desperate resistance ofifered to the Roman 
arms by the Numantians. Rome was unable to overcome 
either enemy without having recourse to treachery. 

While the freedom-loving tribes of the West showed so 
much reluctance to surrender their liberties into the hands of 
Rome, in the East her dominion received a large extension by 
the voluntary act of one of her allies. Attains III., king of 
Pergamus, who held under his sovereignty the greater part of 
Asia Minor, was found at his death (B.C. 133) to have left his 
Kingdom by will to the Roman people. This strange legacy 



ANCIENT HISTORY 349 

was, as was natural, disputed by the expectant heir, Aristonicus, 
bastard son of Attalus, and was afterwards denied by Mithrida- 
tes V. ; but there is no real ground for calHng it in question- 
Rome had no doubt intrigued to obtain the cession, and con- 
sequently she did not hesitate to accept it. A short war with 
Aristonicus (B.C. 133 to 130) gave the Romans full possession 
of the territory, the greater portion of which was formed into 
a province ; Phrygia Major being, however, detached, and 
ceded to Mithridates IV., king of Pontus, who had assisted 
Rome in the brief struggle. 

The internal changes in the Roman government during the 
period here under consideration were gentle, gradual, and for 
the most part informal ; but they amounted in course of time to 
a sensible and far from unimportant modification. The long 
struggle between the Patrician and Plebeian Orders was termi- 
nated by the Genucian revolution ; and, the chief Plebeian fam- 
ilies being now placed on a par with the Patricians, a united 
nobility stood at the head of the nation, confronting and con- 
fronted by a proletariate, with only a rather small and not very 
active middle class intervening between them. The prole- 
tariate, however, was in part amenable to the nobility, being 
composed of persons who were its Clients ; and it was not dif- 
ficult to keep the remaining members in good-humor by be- 
stowing upon them from time to time allotments of land in the 
conquered territories. On the whole, it may be said that the 
proletariate was, during this period, at the beck and call of the 
nobles, while the only opposition which caused them anxiety 
was that of the middle class — Italian farmers principally — who, 
supported by some of the less distinguished Plebeian " houses," 
formed an " opposition," which was sometimes formidable. 

It was the object of the nobles to increase the power of the 
Senate as compared with the " comitia ; " and to bring the 
" comitia " themselves under aristocratic influence. The ex- 
altation of the Senate was efifected very gradually. The more 
important foreign affairs became — and everything was foreign 
out of Italy — the greater grew to be the power of the Senate, 
which settled all such matters without reference to the " co- 
mitia." And, with respect to home affairs, the more widely 
the franchise was extended (and it reached through the Roman 



35° 



RAWLINSON 



colonies to very remote parts of Italy), the more numerous and 
varied the elements that were admitted to it, the less were the 
" comitia " possessed of any distinct and positive will, and the 
more easy did it become to manipulate and manage them. As 
a rule, the people stood and assented to all proposals made by 
the magistrates. They were too widely scattered over the ter- 
ritory to be instructed beforehand, too numerous to be ad- 
dressed effectively at the time of voting — besides which, no one 
but the presiding magistrate had the right of addressing them. 

To bring the " comitia " more completely under the hands 
of the government, the vast bodies of freedmen, who consti- 
tuted at this time the chief portion of the retainers (clicntcs) of 
each noble house, were continually admitted to the franchise, 
either by a positive enactment, as in B.C. 240, or by the care- 
lessness or collusion of the censors, who every five years made 
out anew the roll of the citizens. The lower classes of the in- 
dependent voters were also systematically corrupted by the 
practice of largesses, especially distributions of corn, and by 
the exhibition of games at the private cost of the magistrates, 
who curried favor with the voters by the splendor and expense 
of their shows. It was also, perhaps, to increase the influence 
of the nobles over the centuries that the change was made by 
which each of the five classes was assigned an equal number 
of votes ; for the wealthier citizens not within the noble class 
were at this time the most independent and the most likely to 
thwart the will of the government. 

Still, no hard-and-fast line was drawn between the nobles 
and the rest of the community, no barrier which could not be 
overstepped. A family became noble through its members ob- 
taining any of the high offices of the State, and through its thus 
having " images of ancestors " to show. And legally the high- 
est office was open to every citizen. Practically, however, the 
chief offices came to be confined almost to a clique. This was 
owing, in the first place, to the absolute need of great wealth 
for certain offices, as especially the jedileship, and to the law 
(passed in B.C. 180) by which a regular rotation of offices was 
fixed, and no one could reach the higher till he had first served 
the lower. But, beyond this, it is evident that after a time a 
thoroughly exclusive spirit grew up ; and all the influence of the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



351 



nobles over the " comitia " was exerted to keep out of high 
office every " new man " — every one, that is, who did not be- 
long to the narrow list of some forty or fifty " houses " who 
considered it their right to rule the commonwealth. 

The attempts of the " opposition " were limited to two kinds 
of eflforts. First, they vainly wasted their strength in noble 
but futile efforts to check the spread of luxury and corruption, 
including however under those harsh names much that modern 
society would regard as proper civilization and refinement. 
Secondly, they now and then succeeded by determined exer- 
tions in raising to high office a " new man " — a Porcius Cato, 
or a C. Flaminius — who was a thorn in the side of the nobles 
during the remainder of his lifetime, but rarely effected any 
political change of importance. Altogether, the " opposition " 
seems fairly taxable with narrow views and an inability to grap- 
ple with the difficulties of the situation. The age was one of 
" political mediocrities." Intent on pursuing their career of 
conquest abroad, the Roman people cared little and thought 
little of affairs at home. The State drifted into difficulties, 
which were unperceived and unsuspected, till they suddenly 
declared themselves with startling violence at the epoch where- 
at we have now arrived. 



FIFTH PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of internal Troubles under the 
Gracchi to the Establishment of the Empire under Au- 
gustus, B.C. 133 to A.D. 30.* 

An epoch is now reached at which the foreign wars of Rome 
become few and unimportant, while the internal affairs of the 
State have once more a grave and absorbing interest. Civil 

* Sources. The continuous histories of this period, composed by 
ancient writers, whether Greek or Latin, if we except mere sketches and 
epitomes, are all lost. For the earlier portion of it — B.C. 133 to 70 — our 
materials are especially scanty. Plutarch, in his " Lives " of the Gracchi, 
of Marius, Sylla, Lucullus, Crassus, and Sertorius, and Appian, 
" De Bellis Civilibus," are the chief authorities; to which may be added 
Sallust's " Jugurtha," a brilliant and valuable monograph, together 
with a few fragments of his " Histories." In this comparative scarcity 



352 RAWLINSON 

troubles and commotions follow one another with great rapid- 
ity ; and finally we come to a period when the arms of the Ro- 
mans are turned against themselves, and the conquerors of the 
world engage in civil wars of extraordinary violence. The 
origin of these disturbances is to be found in the gulf which had 
been gradually forming and widening between the poor and the 
rich, the nobles and the proletariate. For a long series of 
years, from the termination of the Second Samnite War to the 
final settlement of Northern Italy (B.C. 303 to 177), the press- 
ure of poverty had been continually kept down and alleviated, 
partly by the long and bloody struggles which decimated the 
population and so relieved the labor-market, partly by distri- 
butions of plunder, and, above all, by assignations of lands. 
But the last Italian colony was sent out in B.C. 177 ; and a new 
generation had now grown up which had neither received nor 
expected any such relief. The lands of Italy were all occu- 
pied ; no nation within its borders remained to be conquered ; 
and settlements beyond the seas possessed for the ordinary Ro- 
man citizen few attractions. As the wars came to be less con- 
stant and less sanguinary, the population increased rapidly, and 
no vent was provided for the newcomers. The labor-market 
was overcrowded ; it became difficult for a poor man to obtain 
a living ; and those dangers arose which such a condition of 
things is sure to bring upon a State. 

The state of affairs would have been very different had the 
Licinian law with respect to the employment of free labor been 
enforced against the occupiers of the public domain. This do- 

of sources, even the brief compendium of the prejudiced Paterculus, 
and the " Epitomes " of the careless and inaccurate Livy, come to have 
an importance. From about B.C. 70, there is an improvement both in 
the amount and in the character of the extant materials. Appian con- 
tinues to be of service, as also does Plutarch in his " Lives " of Cicero, 
Pompey, Julius Caesar, Cato the younger, Brutus, and Antonius; 
while we obtain, in addition, abundant information of the most au- 
thentic kind, first, from the contemporary " Speeches " and " Letters " 
of Cicero, and then from the " Commentaries " of Caesar and Hirtius. 
The continuous narrative of Dio Cassius begins also from the year B.C. 
69; the " Catiline " of Sallust belongs to the years B.C. 66 to 62; and 
Suetonius's "' Lives " of Julius and Octavius fall, the one entirely, the 
other partially, within the date which terminates the period. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 353 

main, which had now become extremely large, had, naturally 
enough, been occupied by the capitalist (which was nearly 
identical with the governing) class, who had at the time seemed 
to compensate fairly the non-capitalists by extremely liberal 
allotments of small plots of ground in absolute property. But, 
while the poorer classes increased in number, the richer were 
stationary, or even dwindled. Old " houses " became extinct, 
while new " houses " only with great difficulty pushed them- 
selves into the ruling order. There were no means of obtain- 
ing much wealth at Rome except by the occupation of domain 
lands on a large scale, by the farming of the revenue, or by the 
government of the provinces. But these sources of wealth 
were, all of them, at the disposal of the ruling class, who as- 
signed them, almost without exception, to members of their 
own families. Thus the wealthy were continually becoming 
more wealthy, while the poor grew poorer. There was no ap- 
preciable introduction of new blood into the ranks of the aris- 
tocracy. The domain land was in B.C. 133 engrossed by the 
members of some forty or fifty Roman " houses " and by a cer- 
tain number of rich Italians, of whom the former had grown 
to be enormously wealthy by inheritance, intermarriages, and 
the monopoly of government employments. The " modus 
agrorum " established by Licinius had fallen into oblivion, or 
at least into disuse ; and several thousand " jugera " were prob- 
ably often held by a single man. Still, in all this there would 
have been no very great hardship, had the domain land been cul- 
tivated by the free labor of Roman citizens, either wholly or in 
any decent proportion. In that case, the noble " possessor " 
must have conveyed to his estate, in whatever part of Italy it 
was situated, a body of poor Roman freemen, who would have 
formed a sort of colony upon his land, and would have only 
differed from other colonists in working for wages instead of 
cultivating on their own account. The Roman labor-market 
would have been relieved, and no danger would have threat- 
ened the State from its lower orders. But it seemed to the 
" possessor " more economical and more convenient to culti- 
vate his land by means of slaves, which the numerous wars of 
the times, together with the regular slave-trade, had made 
cheap. The Licinian enactment was therefore very early set 
23 



354 



RAWLINSON 



at naught ; and it was not enforced. Everywhere over Italy 
the public domain was cultivated by gangs of slaves. 

Among the more wise and patriotic of the Romans it had 
long been seen that this state of things was fraught with peril. 
At Rome a proletariate daily becoming poorer and more un- 
wieldy, content hitherto to be at the beck and call of the nobles, 
but if it once grew to be hungry and hopeless, then most dan- 
gerous — in Italy a vast slave population, composed largely of 
those who had known liberty and were not deficient in intelli- 
gence, harshly treated and without any attachment to its mas- 
ters, which might be expected on any favorable opportunity to 
rise and fight desperately for freedom — the government, if an 
outbreak occurred, dependent on the swords of the soldiers, 
who might largely sympathize with the poorer classes, from 
which they were in great measure taken — such a combination 
boded ill for peace, and claimed the serious consideration of all 
who pretended to the name of statesmen. Unhappily, at Rome, 
statesmen were " few and far between ; " yet, about B.C. 140, 
Laelius (the friend of Scipio) had recognized the peril of the 
situation, and had proposed some fresh agrarian enactments as 
a remedy, but had been frightened from his purpose by the 
opposition which the nobles threatened. Matters went on in 
the old groove till B.C. 133, when at length a tribune of the 
Plebs, Ti. Sempronius Gracchus by name, a member of one of 
the noblest Plebeian houses, came forward with a set of prop- 
ositions which had for their object the relief of the existing 
distress among the Roman citizens, and the improvement of 
the general condition of Italy by the substitution of free cultiva- 
tors of the small yeoman class for the gangs of disafifected slaves 
who were now spread over the country. The exact measures 
which he proposed were, (i) The revival of the obsolete law of 
Licinius, fixing the amount of domain land which a man might 
legally occupy at 500 jugera, with the modification that he 
might hold also 250 jugera for each of his unemancipated adult 
sons ; (2) The appointment of a standing commission of three 
members to enforce the law ; (3) The division among the poorer 
citizens of the State lands which would by the operation of the 
first provision become vacant; (4) The compensation of the 
possessorcs on account of their losses from improvements made 



ANCIENT HISTORY 355 

on the lands which they reHnquished by the assignment to them 
of the portions of land which they legally retained in absolute 
ownership ; and (5) The proviso that the new allotments, when 
once made, should be inalienable. 

The propositions of Gracchus were intensely disagreeable to 
the bulk of the nobility and to a certain number of the richer 
Italians, who had, legally or illegally, become occupiers of the 
domain to an extent beyond that which it was proposed to 
establish as the limit. Naturally therefore his laws were op- 
posed. The opposition was led by one of his own colleagues, 
the tribune Octavius, who by his veto prevented the vote of the 
tribes from being taken. An unseemly contention followed, 
which Gracchus, unfortunately for himself and for his cause, 
terminated by proposing to the tribes, and carrying, the deposi- 
tion of his adversary. The laws were then passed, a commis- 
sion was appointed (Gracchus, his brother Gains, and Ap. 
Claudius, his father-in-law), and the work of resumption and 
distribution commenced. 

But it was more easy to initiate than to carry out a measure 
of such extent and complication, and one that aroused such 
fierce passions, as that which the bold tribune had taken in 
hand. As he advanced in his work his popularity waned. His 
adversaries took heart ; and, to secure himself and his cause, 
he was forced to propose fresh laws of a more and more revo- 
lutionary character. The propositions which he made, and his 
conduct in endeavoring to secure his re-election, for the pur- 
pose of carrying them, goaded his enemies to fury ; and the 
Senate itself, with Scipio Nasica at its head, took the lead in a 
violent attack upon him as he presided in the Tribes, and mur- 
dered him in open day together with 300 of his partisans. 

The open murder of a tribune of the Plebs engaged in the 
duties of his office was an unprecedented act in Roman history 
(for the assassination of Genucius, B.C. 471, had been secret), 
and sufficiently indicated the arrival of a new period, when the 
old respect for law and order would no longer hold its ground, 
and the State would become a prey to the violent and the un- 
scrupulous. For the moment, however, the evil deed done re- 
coiled upon its authors. Nasica, denounced as a murderer on 
all hands, though unprosecuted, was forced to quit Italy and 



356 RAWLINSON 

y 

go into banishment.v The Agrarian Commission of Gracchus 

was renewed, and allowed to continue its labors. Moderation 
on the part of the democratic leaders who had succeeded to the 
position of Gracchus would have secured important results for 
the poor from the martyrdom of their champion ; but the ar- 
bitrary conduct of the new commissioners, Carbo and Flaccus, 
disgusted the moderate party at Rome and large numbers of 
the Italians ; the Senate found itself strong enough to quash 
the Commission and assign the execution of the Sempronian 
Law to the ordinary executive, the consuls ; and finally, when, 
by the assassination of the younger Africanus, the democrats 
had put themselves decidedly in the wrong, it was able to go a 
step farther, and suspend proceedings under the law altogether. 

A lull in the storm now occurred — a period of comparative 
tranquillity, during which only a few mutterings were heard, 
indications to the wise that all was not over. A claim to the 
franchise began to be urged by the Latins and Italians, and to 
find advocates among the democratic Romans, who thought 
that in the accession of these fresh members to the tribes they 
saw a means of more effectually controlling the Senate. Q. 
Fabius Flaccus, the consul of B.C. 125, formulated these claims 
into a law ; but the Senate contrived to tide over the difficulty 
by sending him upon foreign service. The revolt of the dis- 
appointed Fregell^ followed ; and the bloody vengeance taken 
on the unhappy town frightened the Italians, for the time at 
any rate, into silence. Meanwhile, the younger Gracchus, who 
had gone as quaestor into Sardinia, B.C. 126, was detained there 
by the Senate's orders till B.C. 124, when he suddenly returned 
to Rome and announced himself as a candidate for the trib- 
unate. 

The measures of C. Gracchus were more varied and more 
sweeping than those of his elder brother ; but they were cast in 
the same mould. He had the same two objects in view — the 
relief of the poorer classes, and the depression of the power of 
the Senate. Like his brother, he fell a victim to his exertions 
in the popular cause ; but he effected more. His elevation of 
the Equestrian Order, and his system of corn-largesses — the 
" Roman poor-law," as it has been called — survived him, and 
became permanent parts of the constitution. To him is also 



ANCIENT HISTORY 357 

attributable the extension of the Roman colonial system into 
the provinces. He was a great and good man ; but he had a 
difficult part to play ; and he was wanting in the tact and dis- 
cretion which the circumstances of the times required. The 
Senate, being far more than his match in finesse and manoeuvre, 
triumphed over him, though not without once more having re- 
course to violence, and staining the streets and prisons of Rome 
with the blood of above 3000 of her citizens. 

The death of C. Gracchus was followed within a short space 
by the practical repeal of his Agrarian law. First the proviso 
that the allotments made under it should be inalienable was 
abrogated, so that the rich might recover them through mort- 
gage or purchase. Then a law was passed forbidding any 
further allotments (" Lex Boria "), and imposing a quit-rent 
on all " possessores," the whole amount of which was to be 
annually distributed among the poorer classes of the people. 
Finally, by the " Lex Thoria," the quit-rents were abolished, 
and the domain land in the hands of the " possessores " was 
made over to them absolutely. 

The twenty years from B.C. 120 to 100 formed a time of 
comparative internal tranquillity. Rome during this period 
was under the government of the aristocratical party, which 
directed her policy and filled up most of the high offices. But 
the party was during the whole period losing ground. The 
corruption of the upper classes was gradually increasing, and 
— what was worse for their interests — was becoming more 
generally known. The circumstances of the Jugurthine War 
brought it prominently into notice. At the same time the 
democratic party was learning its strength. It found itself 
able by vigorous efforts to carry its candidates and its measures 
in the Tribes. It learnt to use the weapons which had proved 
so effectual in the hands of the nobles — violence and armed 
tumult — against them. And, towards the close of the period, 
it obtained leaders as bold and ruthless as those who in the 
time of the Gracchi had secured the victory for the opposite 
faction. 

While internally Rome remained in tolerable tranquillity, 
externally she was engaged in several most important and even 
dangerous wars. The year of the death of C. Gracchus, B.C. 



358 RAWLINSON 

121, saw the conquest of Southern Gaul effected by the victories 
of Domitius and Fabius, and the formation of that new " Prov- 
ince " whereto the title has ever since adhered as a proper name 
(Provence). Three years later, B.C. ii8, the troubles began 
in Africa which led to the Jugurthine War. That war was 
chiefly important for the revelation which it made of Roman 
aristocratic corruption, and for the fact that it first brought 
prominently into notice the two great party-leaders, Marius 
and Sulla. Scarcely was it ended when a real danger threat- 
ened Rome from the barbarians of the North, a danger from 
which Marius, the best general of the time, with difficulty saved 
her. 

Before the war with Jugurtha was over, that with the North- 
ern barbarians had begun. The Cimbri and Teutones — Celts 
probably and Germans — issuing, as it would seem, from the 
tract beyond the Rhine and Danube, appeared suddenly in vast 
numbers in the region between those streams and the Alps, 
ravaging it at their will, and from time to time threatening, and 
even crossing, the Roman frontier, and inflicting losses upon 
the Roman armies. The natives of the region especially subject 
to their ravages, in great part, joined them, especially the Am- 
brones, Tigurini, and Tectosages. As early as B.C. 113 a 
horde of Cimbri crossed the Alps and defeated the consul Cn. 
Papirius Carbo, in Istria. In B.C. 109, Cimbri appeared on 
the borders of Roman Gaul (Provence) and demanded lands. 
Opposed by the consul M. Junius Silanus, they attacked and 
defeated him ; and from this time till B.C. loi the war raged 
almost continuously, Marius finally bringing it to a close by 
his victory near Vercellae in that year. 

The victories of Aquse Sextiae and Vercellae raised Marius 
to a dangerous eminence. Never, since the first establishment 
of the Republic, had a single citizen so far outshone all rivals. 
Had Marius possessed real statesmanship, he might have an- 
ticipated the work of Julius, and have imposed himself on the 
State as its permanent head. But, though sufficiently ambi- 
tious, he wanted judgment and firmness. He had no clear and 
definite views, either of the exact position to which he aspired, 
or of the means whereby he was to attain to it. His course 
was marked by hesitation and indecision. Endeavoring to 



ANCIENT HISTORY 359 

please all parties, he pleased none. At first allying himself 
with Glaucia and Saturninus, he gave his sanction to the long 
series of measures by which the latter — the first thorough Ro- 
man demagogue — sought to secure the favor of the lower or- 
ders. He encouraged the persecution of Metellus, and gladly 
saw him driven into exile, thus deeply offending the senatorial 
party. But when the violence and recklessness of his allies had 
provoked an armed resistance and civil disturbances began, 
he shrank from boldly casting in his lot with the innovators, 
and, while attempting to screen, in fact sacrificed, his friends. 
The fall of Saturninus was followed, B.C. 99, by the recall 
of Metellus from banishment, and the voluntary exile of the 
haughty and now generally unpopular Marius. That great 
general but poor statesman retired to Asia and visited the 
court of Mithridates. The triumph of his rival, though stained 
by the murder of another tribune, seemed for a time to have 
given peace to Rome ; but the period of tranquillity was not 
of long duration. In B.C. 91, M. Livius Drusus, the son of the 
Drusus who had opposed C. Gracchus, brought forward a set 
of measures which had for their object the reconcilement, at 
Rome, of the Senatorian with the Equestrian Order, and, in 
Italy, of the claims of the Italians with those of the old citizens 
of Rome. There had now been for thirty years a struggle at 
Rome between the nobles and the bourgeoisie on the ques- 
tion of which of the two should furnish the judices; ex- 
pectations had been also for about the same space of time 
held out to the Italians generally that they would be accepted 
into full citizenship. It was venturesome in Drusus to address 
himself at one and the same time to both these great questions. 
Successfully to grapple with them a man was required of first- 
rate powers, one who could bend opposing classes to his will, 
and compel or induce them to accept, however reluctantly, the 
compromise which he considered just or expedient. Drusus 
seems to have possessed mere good intentions, combined with 
average ability. He carried his " lex de judiciis," but was un- 
able to pass that extending the franchise. Once more the 
Roman conservatives had recourse to assassination, and de- 
layed a necessary reform by a bold use of the knife. Drusus 
was murdered before his year of office was out ; and the laws 



360 RAWLINSON 

which he had passed were declared null and void by the gov- 
ernment. 

The murder of Drusus drove the Italians to despair. Ac- 
customed for many years to form an important element in the 
Roman armies, and long buoyed up with hopes of obtaining 
the advantages of citizenship — the chief o\ which were lands, 
cheap corn, and the covert bribery of largesses — the tribes of 
Central and Southern Italy, finding their champion murdered 
and their hopes dashed to the ground, flew to arms. Eight 
nations, chiefly of the Sabine stock, entered into close alliance, 
chose Coriinium in the Pelignian Apennines for their capital, 
and formed a federal republic, to which they gave the name of 
" Italia." At the outset, great success attended the effort ; and 
it seemed as if Rome must have succumbed. Lucius Caesar, 
one of the consuls, Perperna, one of his legates, and Postumius, 
the prsetor, were defeated. The allies overran Campania, de- 
stroyed a consular army under Csepio, and entered into nego- 
tiations with the northern Italians, whose fidelity now wav- 
ered. But the sagacious policy of Rome changed the face of 
affairs, and secured her a triumph which she could not have 
accomplished by arms alone. The " Julian Law " conferred 
full citizenship both on such of the Italians as had taken no 
part in the war hitherto, the Etruscans, Umbrians, Sabines 
proper, Hernicans, etc., and also on all such as upon the pas- 
sage of the law ceased to take part in it. By this proviso the 
revolt became disorganized ; a " peace party " was formed in 
the ranks of the allies ; nation after nation fell away from the 
league ; Rome gained successes in the field ; and at last, when 
only Samnium and Lucania remained in arms, the policy of 
concession was once more adroitly used, and the " Lex Plotia," 
which granted all that the allies had ever claimed, put an end 
to the war. 

The part taken by Marius in the Social War had redounded 
little to his credit. He had served as legate to the consul 
Rutilius, in the first disastrous year, and had declined battle 
when Pompgedius offered it. Probably his sympathies were 
with the revolters, and he had no desire to push them to ex- 
tremities. Sulla, on the other hand, had greatly increased his 
reputation by his campaigns of B.C. 89 and 88; and it was 



ANCIENT HISTORY 361 

therefore natural that he should be selected by the Senate 
as the commander who was to undertake the war against 
Mithridates, which needed a first-rate general. But this se- 
lection deeply offended Marius, who had long regarded the 
conduct of that struggle as his due. Determined to displace 
his rival, or perhaps actuated by a less selfish motive, he 
suddenly undertook the open championship of the Italians, 
whose forced admission to the franchise the government was 
attempting to make a mockery by confining them, despite 
their large numbers, to some eight or ten tribes. At his in- 
stigation, the tribune Sulpicius proposed and, by means of 
tumult, carried a law distributing the new voters through all 
the tribes, and thus giving them the complete control of the 
Comitia. At the same time, he enrolled in the tribes a large 
number of freedmen. Comitia thus formed passed, as a matter 
of course, an enactment depriving Sulla of his post, and trans- 
ferring the command to Marius, B.C. 88. 

The insulted consul was not prepared to submit to his ad- 
versary. Quitting Rome, he made an appeal to his legions, 
and finding them ready to back his claims, he marched straight 
upon the capital. The step seems to have been a complete sur- 
prise to Marius, who had taken no precautions to meet it. In 
vain did the Roman people seek to defend their city from the 
hostile entrance of Roman troops under a Roman general. A 
threat of applying the torch to their houses quelled them. In 
vain Marius, collecting such forces as he could find, withstood 
his rival in the streets and at first repulsed him. The hasty 
levies which alone he had been able to raise were no match for 
the legionaries. The victory remained with Sulla ; and the 
defeated Marians were forced to seek safety in flight. Through 
a wonderful series of adventures, the late director of affairs 
at Rome, with his son, reached Africa an almost unattended 
fugitive. 

Meantime, at Rome, the consul, confident in his armed 
strength, proscribed his adversaries, repealed the Sulpician 
laws, put Sulpicius himself to death, and passed various meas- 
ures favorable to the nobility. But he could not remain per- 
manently at the capital. The affairs of the East called him 
away ; and no sooner was he gone than the flames of civil war 



362 RAWLINSON 

burst out afresh. Cinna, raised to the consulate by the popular 
party, endeavored to restore the exiled Marius and to re-enact 
the laws of Sulpicius. But the aristocrats took arms. Cinna, 
forced to fly, threw himself, like Sulla, upon the legionaries, 
and having obtained their support, and also that of the Italians 
generally, while at the same time he invited Marius over from 
Africa, marched on Rome with his partisans. Again the city 
was taken, and this time was treated like one conquered from 
an enemy. The friends of Sulla were butchered ; the houses 
of the rich plundered ; and the honor of noble families put at 
the mercy of slaves. Prosecutions of those who had escaped 
the massacre followed. Sulla was proscribed, and a reign of 
terror was inaugurated which lasted for several months. But 
the death of Marius, early in B.C. 86, put a stop to the worst 
of these horrors, though Rome remained for two years longer 
under a species of dictatorship, constitutional forms being sus- 
pended. 

Meanwhile, in the East, Sulla had been victorious over Mith- 
ridates, had recovered Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor, 
crushed Fimbria, the Marian partisan, who sought to deprive 
him of his laurels, collected vast sums of money, and, above all, 
brought a large Roman army to feel that devotion to his person 
which is easily inspired in soldiers by a successful general. It 
is creditable to Sulla that he at no moment allowed his private 
quarrels to interfere with the public interests, but postponed 
the rectification of his own wrongs until he had taken ample 
vengeance for those of his country. The peace of Dardanus 
was in the highest degree honorable to Rome and humiliating 
to Mithridates, who not only abandoned all his conquests, but 
consented to a fine of 2000 talents and surrendered his fleet. 
Having accomplished in five campaigns, conducted mainly 
from his private resources, all the objects of the war, Sulla 
could with propriety address himself to the settlement of his 
quarrel with the Marians, and having put down Fimbria in 
Asia, could make his arrangements for fighting out the civil 
struggle, which had long been inevitable, in Italy and at Rome 
itself. 

The determination of Sulla to return to Italy at the head of 
his army, and measure his strength against that of the Mar- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 363 

ians, had been apparent from the moment when he decHned 
to yield his command to Valerius Flaccus, B.C. 86. The gage 
of battle had in fact been thrown down to him by his adver- 
saries, when they declared him a public enemy, and he would 
have been more than human if he had not accepted it. He 
knew that the party of the nobles, whereof he was the repre- 
sentative, was still strong at Rome, and he felt that he could 
count on the army which he had now so often led to victory. 
The death of Marius had made him beyond dispute the first of 
living generals. There was none among the leaders of the 
opposite faction for whom he could feel much respect, unless 
it were the self-restrained and far from popular Sertorius. 
The strength of his adversaries lay in the Roman mob and 
in the Italians. For the former he had all a soldier's contempt ; 
but the latter he knew to be formidable. He therefore, with 
adroit policy, prefaced his return by a declaration that he " in- 
tended no interference with the rights of any citizen, new or 
old." The Italians accepted the pledge, and stood neutral 
during the opening scenes of the contest. 

The triumph of Sulla and the nobles was stained by a mur- 
derous cruelty such as Rome had never yet witnessed. Not 
only were the leaders of the late war, and every relation of 
Marius that could be found, put to death, but at Rome the 
wealthy bourgeoisie, and in the provinces the disaffected 
Italians, were slaughtered by thousands. The fatal " lists " of 
the " proscribed " began ; and numbers of wholly innocent per- 
sons were executed merely on account of their wealth. Nearly 
3000 are said to have perished at Rome, 12,000 at Praeneste, 
and numbers not much smaller at other Italian cities which 
had favored the Marians. The property of every victim was 
confiscated. Sulla remained lord of Rome, first with no title, 
then as " dictator," for the space of nearly three years, when he 
astonished the world by a voluntary abdication of power, a 
retirement to Puteoli, and a dedication of the remainder of his 
life to amusement and sensual pleasures. First, however, by 
his dictatorial power he entirely reformed the Roman Consti- 
tution, depriving it of all elements of a popular character, and 
concentrating all power in the hands of the Senate. 

It was not to be expected that the violent changes introduced 



364 RAWLINSON 

by Sulla into the Roman constitution could long remain un- 
modified. The popular party might be paralyzed by terror for 
a time ; but it was sure to revive. The excesses of the nobles, 
now that their power was wholly unchecked, could not but pro- 
voke reaction. The very nobles themselves were scarcely 
likely to submit long to the restraints which the " lex annalis " 
placed upon their ambition. Accordingly, we find that im- 
mediately after Sulla's death, B.C. 78, an attempt was made by 
Lepidus, the consul, to rescind his laws and restore the former 
constitution. This attempt, it is true, failed, as being prema- 
ture; and so did the effort of the tribune Cn. Sicinius, in B.C. 
76, to restore its powers to the tribunate. But, six years later, 
after the Sertorian and Gladiatorial Wars had been brought 
to an end and the strength of Mithridates broken, Sulla's 
constitution was wholly set aside, and the power of the 
nobles received a check from which it never subsequently 
recovered. 

The individual who had the greatest share in bringing about 
the reversal of Sulla's reforms rose into notice under Sulla him- 
self, but acquired the influence which enabled him to effect a 
great constitutional change in the wars which intervened be- 
tween the years B.C. 'j'j and 70. Cn. Pompeius, whose father 
was a " new man " (noviis homo), and who was thus only just 
within the pale of the nobility, secured for himself a certain 
consideration by the zeal with which he worked for Sulla. 
Having crushed the Marians in Sicily and Africa, and lent ef- 
fectual aid to the consul Catulus against Lepidus, he was re- 
warded in B.C. yy by being sent as proconsul to Spain, where 
Sertorius, recently one of the Marian leaders, had established 
an independent kingdom, and defied all the efforts of the aged 
Metellus to reduce him. Originally the object of Sertorius 
was to maintain himself in a position of antagonism to Rome 
by the swords of the Spaniards ; but when Perperna and the 
remnant of the Marian party fled to him, his views became en- 
larged, and he aspired to reinstate his partisans in authority at 
Rome itself. He would probably have succeeded in this aim, 
had not Perperna, thinking that he had found an opportunity 
of supplanting him in the affections of the Spaniards, removed 
him by assassination. The war was after this soon brought to 



ANCIENT HISTORY 365 

a close, Perperna having neither Sertorius's genius for com- 
mand nor his power of awakening personal attachment. 

Before the Sertorian war was ended, that of the Gladiators 
had broken out. Spartacus, a Thracian chief, who had been 
made prisoner and then forced to become a gladiator, per- 
suaded those in the same condition as himself at Capua to rise 
against their tyrants. Joined by vast numbers of slaves and 
outlaws, he soon found himself at the head of 100,000 men. 
Four generals sent against him were defeated signally, and dur- 
ing two entire years he ravaged Italy at his will, and even 
threatened Rome itself. But intestine division showed itself 
in his ranks; his lieutenants grew jealous of him ; and in B.C. 
71, the war was committed to the praetor Crassus, who in six 
months brought it to a termination. Spartacus fell, fighting 
bravely, near Brundusium. His followers generally dispersed ; 
but a body of 5000, which kept together, forced its way through 
Italy and had nearly reached the Alps, when Pompey on his 
return from Spain fell in with it and destroyed it utterly. 
About the same time, Crassus crucified all those whom he had 
made prisoners, amounting to 6000. 

The successful termination of these two important strug- 
gles exalted in the public esteem two men especially, the rich 
and shrewd Crassus, and the bland, attractive, and thoroughly 
respectable Pompey. To them the State had in its dangers 
committed itself ; and they now claimed, not unnaturally, to be 
rewarded for their services by the consulship. But the Sullaean 
constitution forbade their election ; and to efifect it the " lex 
annalis " had to be broken through. The breach thus made 
was rapidly enlarged. Though hitherto Sullasans, Pompey 
and Crassus had now, it would seem, become convinced, either 
that it was impossible to maintain a strictly oligarchical con- 
stitution, or that such a constitution was not for their own per- 
sonal interest. They had determined to throw themselves up- 
on the support and sympathies of the Roman bourgeoisie, or 
upper middle class, and resting upon this basis to defy the 
oligarchy. The moving spirit in the matter was, no doubt, 
Pompey, who easily persuaded his less clever colleague. 
Three measures were determined upon : — the restoration of the 
power of the tribunes, and the consequent resuscitation of the 



366 RAWLINSON 

tribes ; the transferrence of the jiidicia to a body of which one- 
third only should be furnished by the Senate, the knights fur- 
nishing one-third, and the remaining third being drawn from 
the Tribuni ^rarii ; a purification of the government from its 
grossest scandals, partly by prosecutions, as that of Verres, 
partly by a revival of the office of censor, which had been sus- 
pended by Sulla. Despite a fierce opposition on the part of 
the Senate, these measures were carried. The Senate was 
purged by the expulsion of sixty-four of its members. Verres 
was driven into exile. The control of the jiidicia was trans- 
ferred from the nobles to the upper middle class. The pa- 
ralysis of political life, which Sulla's legislation had produced, 
was terminated by the restoration of a double initiative, and 
the consequent rivalry between two parties and two classes for 
the direction of the affairs of the State. 

A pause now occurred in the career of Pompey, who took no 
province at the close of his consulship, apparently contented 
with his achievements, or waiting till some great occasion 
should recall him to the service of the State. In this interval — 
B.C. 69 to 6y — a new character appeared upon the scene. C. 
Julius Caesar, the nephew of Marius and son-in-law of Cinna, 
whom Sulla had spared in a moment of weariness or weakness, 
acting probably in concert with Crassus and Pompey, exhib- 
ited at the funeral of Julia, his own aunt and the widow of 
Marius, the bust of that hero. At the same time, he pleaded 
the cause of his uncle, Cornelius Cinna, and obtained his recall, 
together with that of other Marian partisans. His wife, Cor- 
nelia, dying, he connected himself with Pompey by marriage. 
At this time the qusestorship, and soon afterwards the sedile- 
ship, were conferred upon him. The Pompeians regarded him 
with favor as a useful, but scarcely dangerous, adherent ; the 
men of more advanced opinions already looked upon him as 
their leader, the chief who might, and probably would, give 
effect to their ideas. 

After two years of affected retirement, Pompey was once 
more, in B.C. 67, impatient for action. A danger had long 
been growing up in the Eastern Mediterranean, which by this 
time had become an evil of the first magnitude. The creeks 
and valleys of Western Cilicia and Pamphylia (or Pisidia) had 



ANCIENT HISTORY 367 

fallen into the hands of pirates, whose numerous fleets had 
continually increased in boldness, and who now ventured to 
plunder the coasts of Italy and intercept the corn-ships on 
which the food of Rome depended. Pompey undertook the 
war against this foe, and the opportunity was seized by his 
creatures to invest him with a species of command never be- 
fore enjoyed, and dangerous as a precedent. He was given 
by the lex Gabinia authority over all the Mediterranean coasts, 
and over every city and territory within fifty miles of the sea- 
board, B.C. 67. These extraordinary powers were used quite 
unexceptionally ; Pompey applied them solely to the purposes 
of the war, which he began and ended in three months. 

The precedent set by the Gabinian law was soon followed. 
In B.C. 66 the tribune C. Manilius moved, and Cicero urged, 
that the entire command of the whole East should be intrusted 
to Pompey for an indefinite term, " until he had brought the 
Mithridatic war to an end ; " and he once more set forth to em- 
ploy his military talents for the advantage of his country. The 
Mithridatic war, conducted by Lucullus since B.C. 74, dragged 
on but slowly, partly in consequence of the aid given to Mithri- 
dates by Tigranes, partly owing to the economic measures of 
Lucullus himself, which alienated from him the afifections of his 
soldiers. Pompey, by relaxing the strict rules of his prede- 
cessor, and by the politic device of an alliance with the Parthian 
king Phraates, terminated the war gloriously in the space of 
two years, driving Mithridates into the regions beyond the 
Caucasus, B.C. 65. 

After driving Mithridates beyond the Caucasus, Pompey 
proceeded to overrun and conquer the rest of Asia within the 
Euphrates. He made himself master of the kingdom of the 
Seleucidge without a blow, and reduced it into a Roman prov- 
ince. He proceeded through Coele-Syria to Judaea, besieged 
and took Jerusalem, and entered the Holy of Holies. War 
with the Idumsean Arabs followed, but was interrupted by the 
death of Mithridates ; after which the Roman general, content 
with his gains, applied himself to the task of regulating and ar- 
ranging the conquered territory — a task which occupied him 
for the rest of the year. He then returned hom.e in a triumphal 
progress, B.C. 62, and arrived at Rome early in B.C. 61. 



368 



RAWLINSON 



Meanwhile at Rome, the State had incurred the danger of 
subversion at the hands of a daring profligate. L. Sergius Cati- 
lina, a patrician of broken fortunes, a man representing no 
party unless it were that of the ruined spendthrifts and despera- 
does with which Rome and Italy now abounded, having failed 
in an attempt to better his condition, by means of the consulate, 
with its reversionary province, B.C. 64, combined with others 
in a similar position to himself, and formed a plot to murder 
the consuls, seize Rome, and assume the government. Sup- 
port was expected, not only from the class of needy adventur- 
ers, but from the discontented Italians, from the veterans of 
Sulla, eager for excitement and plunder, from the gladiatorial 
schools, from slaves and criminals, and from foreigners. The 
tacit acquiescence of the Marian party was counted on ; and 
Caesar, and even Crassus, were said to have been privy to the 
conspirators' designs. But the promptitude and address of 
Cicero, consul at the time, frustrated the scheme ; and, after a 
short civil war, the danger was removed by the defeat of the 
rebels in Etruria, B.C. 62, and the death of the arch-con- 
spirator. 

In the absence of Pompey, the guidance of affairs at Rome 
had been assumed chiefly by three men. These were Cato, 
Cicero, and Csesar. Crassus, who is sometimes mentioned 
with them as a leader, was in reality too indolent and too weak 
in character to be of any real account, and could only influence 
afifairs by means of his enormous wealth. Cato, a descendant 
of the old censor, and a man of similar character, was at the 
head of the Senatorial party; Csesar was the acknowledged 
chief of the Marians ; while Cicero held an intermediate posi- 
tion, depending for his power almost wholly on his unrivalled 
eloquence, and having the confidence of neither of the two 
great factions. Of the three, the one whose genius was the 
greatest, and whose influence manifestly tended to preponder- 
ate, was Csesar. Though bankrupt in fortune, such was the 
adroitness of his conduct, and such the inherent strength of the 
principles with which he was identified, that at every turn of 
afifairs he rose higher, and tended to become more and more 
manifestly the first man in the Republic. Entitled to assist in 
the administration of justice after his sedileship, he boldly con- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 369 

demned to death agents in the Syllaean assassinations ; he de- 
feated the chief of the Senate, Catuhis, in a contest for the office 
of Pontifex Maximus ; accused of comphcity in the conspiracy 
of Catihne, he forced Cicero to admit that, on the contrary, he 
had given the information which led to its detection ; elected 
praetor in B.C. 62, he bearded the Senate by the protection of 
Masintha, baffled their attempt to entangle him in a quarrel 
with the profligate Clodius, and finally, having obtained a loan 
of 830 talents (£200,000) from Crassus, he assumed in B.C. 61 
the government of the Farther Spain, where he completed the 
conquest of Lusitania, and made himself the favorite of an im- 
portant army. His star was clearly in the ascendant when 
Pompey, after an unwise delay in the East, at length returned 
to Rome soon after Caesar had quitted it. 

During his absence Pompey had become more and more an 
object of suspicion to the Senate ; and his own proceedings, as 
the time of his return approached, were little calculated to in- 
spire confidence. His creature, Metellus Nepos, who arrived 
in Rome B.C. 62, was in constant communication with the 
Marian chief, Caesar, and proposed early in that year the recall 
of Pompey, with his army, to Italy, and the assignment to him 
of all the powers of the State, for the purpose of concluding the 
Catilinarian war. The boldness of Cato baffled this insidious 
attempt; and, when the proconsul returned in B.C. 61, it was 
with a studious appearance of moderation and respect for the 
law. He disbanded his troops as soon as he touched the soil of 
Italy, came to Rome accompanied by only a few friends, ob- 
tained the consent of the Senate to his triumph, claimed no 
extraordinary honors, and merely demanded allotments for his 
soldiers and the ratification of his Asiatic " acts," which were 
all certainly within the terms of his commission. But the Sen- 
ate had passed from undue alarm to undue contempt, and were 
pleased to thwart one whom they disliked and had so lately 
feared. Pompey's requests were refused — his " acts " were 
unconfirmed — and his veterans denied their promised allot- 
ments. Hereupon, Pompey accepted the overtures made to 
him by Caesar, who effected the private league or cabal known 
afterwards as the " First Triumvirate," between himself, Pom- 
pey, and Crassus, the basis of which was understood to be 
24 



37© RAWLINSON 

antagonism to the Senatorial party, and the maintenance 
against all rivals of the triumvirs' power and influence. 

The formation of the triumvirate was immediately followed 
by the election of Csesar to the consulate, and the passing, by 
means of tumult and violence, of a number of laws for the ad- 
vantage of the people. The first of these was an Agrarian Bill 
on an extensive scale, which provided for the veterans of Pom- 
pey, and at the same time gave estates in Campania to a large 
portion of the Roman populace. A second forced the Senate 
to swear to the Bill under penalty of death. A third relaxed 
the terms on which the knights were farming the revenues of 
Asia. At the close of a consulate which was almost a dictator- 
ship, Csesar obtained for himself the government of the two 
Gauls and of Illyricum for a space of five years, thus securing 
himself a wide field for the exercise of his military talents, and 
obtaining the opportunity of forming a powerful army devoted 
wholly to his interests. 

The triumvirs could not count on the firm establishment of 
their power, so long as the two party-leaders, Cicero and Cato, 
maintained unimpaired their high and dignified position. Ac- 
cordingly, they set themselves through their creatures at once 
to remove from the seat of government these two statesmen, 
and to cast a permanent slur upon their characters. The trib- 
une Clodius drove Cicero into banishment on the charge of 
his having acted illegally in putting to death Lentulus and 
Cethegus. The great orator's property was confiscated, and 
his houses were demolished. As against Cato no plausible 
charge could be made, his removal was effected by thrusting 
upon him an imwelcome commission which was likely to bring 
odium on those engaged in it. He was sent to deprive Ptolemy 
of his kingdom of Cyprus on pretexts utterly frivolous, and to 
convert that island into a Roman province. Though Cato 
conducted himself with skill and with unimpeachable integrity 
in this delicate transaction, yet the decline of his influence may 
be dated from his acceptance of an office unsuited to his char- 
acter. 

On Cicero the blow dealt by the triumvirs fell even more 
heavily. Though recalled from banishment within eighteen 
months of his quitting Italy, he never recovered his former 



ANCIENT HISTORY 371 

position either in the opinion of others or in his own. Con- 
stitutionally timid, his exile effectually cowed him. He lost 
all confidence in the gratitude of his countrymen, in the affec- 
tion of his friends, in his own firmness and prudence. Hence- 
forth he no longer aspired to direct the counsels of the State : 
his efforts were limited to moderating the violence of parties 
and securing his own personal safety by paying court to those 
in power. Towards the close of his career, indeed, he ventured 
once more to take a bolder attitude, but it was when the star 
of Antony was beginning to pale before the rise of a brighter 
luminary. 

The tribune Clodius, who had moved and carried the meas- 
ures by which Cicero and Cato were forced to quit Rome, was 
not content to be a mere tool in the hands of the triumvirs. 
His measures for the gratuitous distribution of corn, for the 
limitation of the censors' powers over the Senate, and for the 
re-establishment of the guilds, were probably concerted with 
Pompey ; but it was not long before he exhibited an indepen- 
dent spirit, outraged his protector, and stood forward as a sep- 
arate party-leader of the more violent kind. Pompey was thus 
forced to incline for a while towards the Senatorians, to encour- 
age the recall of Cicero, and to allow the prosecution of Clodius. 
It was the hope of the triumvir that affairs would fall into such 
a condition as manifestly to require a dictator, and that he 
would be selected for the office. But the Senate's vigor was 
not yet exhausted ; it was content to reward Pompey by a new 
commissionership (the prcefectura annoncu) ; to oppose its own 
" bravo," Milo, to Clodius ; and to foment discord between 
Pompey and Crassus, who naturally tended to become more 
and more jealous of each other. 

Civil war would probably at this time have broken out, had 
it not been for the management of Caesar. At interviews 
which he held with Crassus and Pompey at Ravenna and Luc- 
ca, he succeeded in bringing them to an agreement, and in 
arranging plans for the further aggrandizement both of himself 
and them. He urged them to seek the consulate for the ensu- 
ing year, and to obtain for themselves such governments as 
suited them at its close. For himself he required the prolonga- 
tion of his proconsulship for a second term of five years. With- 



372 KAWLINSON 

in this period he could hope to have gained such successes as 
would dazzle the eyes of the Romans at home, and to have 
acquired unbounded influence over the veteran army, which 
would have then served ten years under his banner. 

The Second Consulate of Pompey and Crassus, B.C. 55, 
brought about by violence and tumult, was a further step 
towards the demoralization of the State, but produced a tem- 
porary lull in the strife of parties. The triumvirs severally 
obtained their immediate objects. Despite the efforts of Cato, 
Caesar was assigned the Gauls for an additional term of five 
years. Pompey received the Spains for an equal period, while 
the rich East was made over to the avaricious Crassus, who 
became proconsul of Syria and commander-in-chief of the Ro- 
man forces in the Oriental provinces. Pompey, moreover, 
managed to establish the new principle of combining the ad- 
ministration of a province with residence in the capital. Under 
the pretext that his office of " praefectus annonae " required his 
presence at Rome, he administered Spain by his legates, and, 
in the absence of Crassus, acquired the sole direction of affairs 
at the seat of empire. This position was still further secured to 
him by the death of Crassus in his rash expedition against the 
Parthians, B.C. 53. 

The death of Crassus, by reducing the triumvirate to a du- 
umvirate, precipitated the struggle which had been long im- 
pending. The tie of relationship which united Pompey and 
Caesar had been dissolved by the death of Julia, B.C. 54. An- 
other check on Pompey's ambition was removed by the murder 
of Clodius in an afifray with Milo, B.C. 53. After this Pompey 
apparently thought that the time was at length come when, if 
Caesar could be disgraced, the State must fall wholly into his 
hands. He therefore encouraged the proposals that were made 
by the extreme aristocrats to deprive Caesar prematurely of his 
proconsular office, or at any rate to prevent him from suing for 
the consulship until he had ceased to be the lord of legions. 
After himself holding the office of sole consul for the space of 
six months, B.C. 52, and obtaining the prolongation of his own 
proconsulship for a further term of five years, he sought to re- 1 
duce his partner and rival to the mere rank of an ordinary citi- ■ ' 
zen. It was not to be supposed that Caesar would consent to 



ANCIENT HISTORY 373 

this change, a change which would have placed his very life at 
his enemies' mercy. War was certain from the moment when, 
in spite of the veto of two tribunes, the Senate, at Pompey's 
instigation, appointed Caesar's successor, and required him, 
before standing for the consulate, to resign his proconsular 
command. Csesar would have lost all at which he had aimed 
for ten years, had he yielded obedience to this mandate. To 
expect him to do so was to look for antique self-denial and 
patriotism in an age when these virtues had been long out of 
date, and in an individual who had never shown any signs of 
them. 

On hearing of the Senatorial decrees, the resolve of Csesar 
was soon taken. He would appeal to the arbitrament of arms. 
At the head of a veteran army devoted to his person, with all 
the resources of Gaul to draw upon, and endeared to the 
Italians generally as the successor of Marius, he felt himself 
more than a match for Pompey and the Senate, and was ready 
to engage any force that they could bring against him. Ac- 
cordingly he " crossed the Rubicon," and began his march 
upon Rome. Pompey had probably expected this movement, 
and had determined upon the line of conduct which he would 
pursue. He would not attempt to defend Italy, but would 
retire upon the East. In that scene of his old glories 
he would draw together a power sufficient, not only to 
secure him against his rival, but to re-enter and re-conquer 
Italy. He would drag the Senate with him, and having carried 
it beyond the seas, would be its master instead of its slave. 
Having the command of the sea, he would coop up his rival 
in Italy, until the time came when his land forces were ready 
to swoop down upon their prey. With these views he retired 
as Caesar advanced, making only a show of resistance, and 
finally crossed from Brundisium to Epirus without fighting 
a battle. 

By the retirement of Pompey, all Italy was thrown into 
Caesar's arms. He acquired the immense moral advantage of 
holding the seat of government, and of being thus able to 
impart to all his acts the color of legitimacy. He secured also 
important material gains ; first, in the acquisition of the State- 
treasure, which Pompey most unaccountably neglected to carry 



374 RAWLINSON 

off; and, further, in the power which he obtained of drawing 
recruits from the Itahan nations, who still furnished their best 
soldiers to the Roman armies. The submission of Italy drew 
with it almost of necessity that of Sardinia and Sicily ; and thus 
the power of the proconsul was at once established over the 
entire middle region of the Empire, reaching from the German 
Ocean to the Sea of Africa, and from the Pyrenees to Mount 
Scardus. Pompey possessed the East, Africa, and Spain ; and, 
had his counsels been inspired with energy and decision, he 
might perhaps have advanced from three sides on his rival, 
and have crushed him between the masses of three converg- 
ing armies. But the conqueror of Mithridates was now old, 
and had lost the vigor and promptitude of his early years. 
He allowed Caesar, acting from a central position, to strike 
separately at the different points of his extended line. First, 
Spain was attacked, and, for the time, reduced to subjection; 
then, the war was transferred to the East, and its issue (prac- 
tically) decided at Pharsalia; after this, the Pompeians were 
crushed in Africa ; and finally, the party having rallied in 
Spain, was overwhelmed and blotted out at Munda. These 
four wars occupied the great soldier during the chief portion 
of five years (B.C. 49 to 45) ; in the course of which, however, 
he found time also to reduce Egypt, and to chastise Pharnaces, 
son of Mithridates, at Zela. 

The claim of Caesar to be considered one of the world's 
greatest men rests less upon his military exploits, important 
as these undoubtedly were, than upon his views and efforts 
as a statesman and social reformer. It was his great merit 
that he understood how the time for the Republic had gone by ; 
how nothing but constant anarchy at home and constant op- 
pression abroad could result from the continuance of that gov- 
ernmental form under which Rome had flourished so wonder- 
fully in simpler and ruder ages. He saw distinctly that the 
hour had arrived for monarchy ; that, for the interests of all 
classes, of the provincials, of the Italians, of the Romans, of 
the very nobles themselves, a permanent supreme ruler was 
required ; and the only man fit at the time to exercise that 
oflfice of supreme ruler he knew to be himself. He knew, too, 
though perhaps he failed to estimate aright, the Roman at- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 375 

tachment to old forms, and he therefore assumed, in B.C. 47, 
the perpetual " dictatorship," whereby he reconciled the actual 
establishment of an absolute monarchy with the constitutional 
purism which had weight with so many of his contempora- 
ries. Having thus secured the substance of power, he pro- 
ceeded, even in the midst of his constant wars, to bring for- 
ward a series of measures, which were, in most cases, at once 
moderate, judicious, and popular. He enlarged the Senate 
to the number of 900, and filled up its ranks from the pro- 
vincials no less than from the class of Roman citizens. He 
once more confined the judicia to the senators and equites. 
He raised to the rank of citizens the entire population of Trans- 
padane Gaul, and numerous communities in Gaul beyond the 
Alps, in Spain, and elsewhere. He enfranchised all professors 
of the liberal sciences. He put down the political clubs. He 
gave his veterans lands, chiefly beyond the seas, planting them, 
among other places, at Corinth and Carthage, cities which he 
did not fear to rebuild. He arranged matters between the two 
classes of debtors and creditors on a principle which left finan- 
cial honesty untouched. He re-enacted the old Licinian law, 
which required the employment of free labor on estates in Italy 
in a certain fixed proportion to the number of slaves. He 
encouraged an increase in the free population by granting 
exemptions to those who had as many as three children. He 
proposed the codification of the laws, commenced a survey 
of the empire, and reformed the calendar. When it is remem- 
bered that Caesar only held power for the space of about five 
years, and that the greater portion of this period was occupied 
by a series of most important wars, such legislative prolific- 
ness, such well-planned, varied, and (in some cases) most com- 
prehensive schemes, cannot but provoke our admiration. 

But the dictator, though endued with political insight fai 
beyond any of his contemporaries, was, after all, only a fallible 
mortal. He may neither have been wholly corrupted by his 
passion for Cleopatra, nor so much intoxicated by the posses- 
sion of supreme power as to have wantonly disregarded the 
prejudices which stood in the way of his ambition. But at 
any rate he misjudged the temper of the people among whom 
his lot was cast, when, because his own logical mind saw that 



376 kAWLINSON 

monarchy was inevitable, he encouraged its open proclama- 
tion, without making sufficient allowance for the attachment 
of large classes of the nation to phrases. He thus provoked 
the conspiracy to which he fell a victim, and cannot be ex- 
onerated from the charge of having contributed to his own 
downfall. The conspiracy against the life of J. Caesar, formed 
by Brutus Cassius, found so many abettors, not from the 
mere blind envy of the nobles towards a superior, but because 
there was ingrained into the Roman mind a detestation of 
royalty. The event proved that this prejudice might be over- 
'come, in course of time, by adroit management ; but Csesar 
boldly and without disguise affronted the feeling, not aware,, 
as it would seem, of the danger he was incurring. His death, 
March 15, B.C. 44, introduced another period of bloody strug- 
gle and civil war, which lasted until the great victory gained 
by Octavius at Actium, B.C. 31. 

The knot of enthusiasts and malcontents, who had ventured 
'on the revolutionary measure of assassinating the chief of the 
State, had made no adequate provision for what was to follow. 
Apparently, they had hoped that both the Senate and the 
people would unite to applaud their deed, and would joyfully 
hasten to re-establish the old republican government. But 
the general feeling which their act aroused was not one of 
rejoicing, but of consternation. The noble and rich feared the 
recurrence of a period of lawlessness and anarchy. The poorer 
classes, who were indifferent as to the form of government, 
provided it fed and amused them, looked coldly on the men 
who, merely on account of a name, had plunged the State into 
fresh troubles. The numerous class of those who had bene- 
fited by Caesar's legislation trembled lest his murder should 
be followed by the abrogation of his laws. None knew what 
to expect next — whether proscription, civil war, or massacre. 
Had the conspirators possessed among them a commanding 
mind, had they had a programme prepared, and had they 
promptly acted on it, the Republic might perhaps have been 
galvanized into fresh life, and the final establishment of des- 
potism might have been deferred, if it could not be averted. 
But at the exact time when resolution and quick action were 
needed, they hesitated and procrastinated. Their remissness 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



377 



gave the sole consul, Antony, an opportunity of which he was 
not slow to avail himself. Having secured the co-operation 
of Lepidus, Caesar's master of the horse, who alone had an 
armed force on the spot, he possessed himself of the treasures 
and papers of the dictator, entered into negotiations with the 
" Liberators," and while professedly recognizing the legitimate 
authority of the Senate, contrived in a short time to obtain the 
substance of supreme power for himself. His colleague, Dola- 
bella, elected consul in the place of Caesar, became his tool. 
The " Liberators," fearful for their personal safety, despite the 
" amnesty " whereto all had agreed, quitted Rome and threw 
themselves upon the provinces. Antony was on the point of 
obtaining all that his heart desired, when the claims and pro- 
ceedings of a youth — almost a boy — who unexpectedly ap- 
peared upon the scene, introduced fresh complications, and, 
checking Antony in mid-career, rendered it doubtful for a 
while whether he would not fall as suddenly as he had risen, 

C. Octavius, the youthful rival of Antony, was the grand- 
nephew of J. Caesar, being the grandson of his sister, Julia. 
He had enjoyed for several years a large portion of the dicta- 
tor's favor, and in his last testament had been named as his 
chief heir and son by adoption. Absent from Rome at the date 
of Caesar's murder, he lost no time in proceeding to the capi- 
tal, claiming the rights and accepting the obligations which 
devolved on him as Caesar's heir. With consummate adroit- 
ness he contrived to gain the good-will of all parties. The 
soldiers were brought to see in him the true representative 
of their loved and lost commander; the populace was won 
by shows, 'by stirring appeals, by the payment of Caesar's 
legacy to them out of his own private resources ; the Liber- 
ators, and especially Cicero, who had made common cause 
with them, were cajoled into believing that he had no per- 
sonal ambition, and only sought to defeat the selfish designs 
of Antony. Even with Antony there was established, we can- 
not say how early, an understanding, that the quarrel between 
the two Caesareans was not to be pushed a Voutrance, but was 
to be prosecuted as between enemies who might one day be 
friends. Thus guarded on all sides, Octavius ventured, though 
absolutely without office, to collect an army, which he paid 



378 RAWLINSON 

out of his own resources, and to take up a position, from which 
he might either defend or threaten Rome. Encouraged by his 
proceedings, Cicero re-entered the pohtical arena, and took 
up the attitude against Antony which had been successful 
against Catihne. By the series of speeches and pamphlets 
known as " the Philippics," he crushed the popularity of the 
proconsul, drove him from Rome, and freed the Senate from 
his influence. Antony retired to his province of Cisalpine 
Gaul, and there commenced the Third Civil War by besieging 
Decimus Brutus, the previous governor, in Mutina. Here- 
upon the Senate bade the new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, to 
act against him, and, at Cicero's instance, invested the young 
Octavius with the prsetorship, and joined him in the command 
with the consuls. 

The short war known as the " Bellum Mutinense " followed. 
In two battles, one at Forum Gallorum, the other under the 
walls of Mutina, Antony's troops were defeated by the army 
of the Senate, and he himself, despairing of present success, 
crossed the Alps to join Lepidus in Gaul. But the two vic- 
tories were dearly won, at the cost of two most important lives. 
Hirtius and Pansa, the two honest consuls, both fell ; and 
Octavius, finding himself the sole commander, was encouraged 
to put aside his reserve and show himself in his true colors. 
He refused to join Decimus Brutus in the pursuit of Antony, 
and thus aided the latter's escape. He claimed the whole merit 
of the war, and boldly demanded a triumph ; finally, he sent 
a detachment of his soldiers to Rome, to demand the consul- 
ship for him ; when the Senate, alarmed at his attitude, re- 
fused these requests, he at once threw ofi the mask, marched 
with all his troops on Rome, plundering as he advanced, and 
at the head of his legions imposed his will on the government. 
Possessed of supreme power, it pleased him to assume the title 
of consul, and to give himself, as a nominal colleague in the 
ofifice, his cousin, Q. Pedius. 

It was the policy of Octavius to secure for all his acts, so far 
as he possibly could, legal sanctions. He now, therefore, re- 
quired and obtained the confirmation of his adoption. De- 
termined to proceed to extremities against the " Liberators," 
he had them attainted, and, as they had all f^ed from Rome 



ANCIENT HISTORY 379 

upon his entrance, condemned in their absence. A similar 
sentence was, at his instance, passed on Sext. Pompeius. Oc- 
tavius was made generaHssimo of all the forces of the Republic, 
and was authorized to act against, or, if it pleased him better, 
treat with, Antony and Lepidus. It was on this latter course 
that he had long before decided. Only by the aid of Antony 
could he hope to triumph over Cassius and the Bruti, whose 
party in the West was in nowise contemptible, and who had 
all the resources of the East at their disposal. Accordingly, 
Antony and Lepidus were invited to confer with Octavius* 
on an island in the river Reno, and the result was the for- 
mation of the (so-called) " Second Triumvirate " — the first 
government which really bore the name — a self-constituted 
Board of Three, who were conjointly to rule the State. 

On the opening of negotiations between Octavian and An- 
tony, Decimus Brutus had been deserted by his soldiers, and, 
when he attempted to escape from Italy, had been seized and 
put to death. The West was thus pacified ; and the triumvirs 
could therefore concentrate their whole attention, first upon 
the destruction of their enemies at home, and then upon the 
war in the East. The proscription was relentlessly enforced. 
Among its victims were Cicero, the tribune Salvius, Annalis, 
one of the praetors, Cicero's brother Quintus, and his nephew, 
Ouintus's son. The lists, which followed rapidly one upon 
the other, contained altogether the names of 300 senators and 
2000 knights. The property of the proscribed was seized. 
The soldiers, let loose through Italy under the pretence of 
hunting out the proscribed, ravaged and wasted at their pleas- 
ure. Private malice obtained its gratification with impunity. 
Numbers were murdered merely because they were rich, and 
their property was coveted by the triumvirs or their creatures. 

Early in B.C. 42 military operations were commenced. Oc- 
tavian, whose province of Sicily had been occupied by Sextus 
Pompeius, made an attempt to wrest it from his hands ; but 
his admiral, Salvidienus, being defeated in a naval engagement 
near Messana, the enterprise was given up. Antony had al- 
ready crossed from Italy to Epirus ; Octavian now followed 
him. Their combined forces, which exceeded 120,000 men, 
marched unresisted through Epirus and Macedonia, and had 
* Octavius was called Octavian after he became a triumvir. 



38o RAWLINSON 

reached Thrace before they were confronted by the " Libera- 
tors." These now brought up the full strength of the East 
against the Western legions ; their legionary infantry amount- 
ed to 80,000; their cavalry to 20,000; and they had Asiatic 
levies in addition. Still, however, their forces were outnum- 
bered by those of their adversaries ; whose legionaries were 
probably not fewer than 120,000, while their cavalry was reck- 
oned at 13,000. 

The two armies met at Philippi (the ancient Crenides) ; and 
the fate of the Roman world was decided in a twofold battle. 
In the first fight Brutus defeated Octavian, but Antony gained 
a decided advantage over Cassius, who, unaware of his col- 
league's victory, committed suicide. In the second, three weeks 
later, the army of Brutus was completely overcome, and he 
himself, escaping from the field, could only follow the example 
of Cassius, and kill himself. With Brutus fell the Republic. 
The usurpation of Csesar had suspended, but not desti^oyed it. 
It had revived after his death. The coarse brutality of An- 
tony, the craft of Octavian, had separately failed to put it down. 
Conjoined they achieved greater success. The Republic, albeit 
some of its forms remained, was in reality swept away at 
Philippi. The absolute ascendency of individuals, which is 
monarchy, was then established. There might afterwards be 
several competitors for the supreme power; and struggles, 
fierce and bitter, might be carried on between them ; but no 
thought was entertained of resuscitating any more the dead 
form of the Republic ; the contest was simply one between 
different aspirants to the supreme authority. 

The immediate consequence of the victory at Philippi was 
a fresh arrangement of the Roman world among the triumvirs. 
As Antony preferred the East, Octavian consented to relin- 
quish it to him ; but it was necessary that he should be com- 
pensated for the sacrifice. His colleague therefore yielded to 
him Italy and Spain, which last Lepidus was required to re- 
linquish, obtaining instead the Roman " Africa." The facile 
Lepidus submitted readily to the new partition ; and while 
Antony received the homage of the East, and himself suc- 
cumbed to the charms of Cleopatra at Tarsus, Octavian under- 
took the direction of affairs at the seat of government. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 381 

But there was no real cordiality, no mutual respect, no sense 
even of a common interest, among the triumvirs. The Roman 
world was scarcely theirs before they began to quarrel over it. 
Octavian being in difficulties at Rome from the scarcity of 
provisions consequent on the attitude of Sextus Pompeius, 
from the despair of the Italians driven from their cities and 
lands to make room for the veterans, and from the discontent 
of many of the veterans themselves, whose rewards fell short 
of their hopes, Antony began to intrigue against him and to 
seek his downfall. The embers of discontent were fanned into 
a flame by the triumvir's brother, Lucius, and his wife Fulvia, 
who shortly put themselves at the head of an insurrectionary 
force, and disputed with Octavian the mastery of Italy. The 
hopes, however, of the insurgents were smothered in the smoke 
of Perusia (B.C. 40) ; and on the return of Antony to Italy, 
the rivals, at the instance of the soldiery, came to an accommo- 
dation. Octavian received the whole West, including both 
the Gauls and also lUyricum ; Antony was obliged to content 
himself with a diminished East ; Lepidus kept Africa. Fulvia 
having opportunely died, the " Peace of Brundusium " was 
sealed by a marriage, Octavian giving the hand of his widowed 
sister, Octavia, to his reconciled colleague. 

The pact of Brundusium was modified in the ensuing year, 
B.C. 39, by the admission of Sextus Pompeius into partnership 
with the triumvirs. It was agreed that he should retain Sicily, 
Sardinia, and Corsica; and that he should further receive 
Achaea, on condition of his evacuating certain strongholds 
which he possessed in Italy. He for his part undertook to pro- 
vide Rome plentifully with corn. This agreement, however — 
known as the " Treaty of Misenum " — was never executed. 
Sextus did not receive Achasa, and therefore kept possession 
of the strongholds. Octavian, in retaliation, encouraged the 
defection of his lieutenants, and received from one of them, 
Menodorus, a fleet and several forts in Sardinia and Corsica. 
Sextus, upon this, flew to arms ; and a naval war began be- 
tween him and Octavian, which led, after several turns of 
fortune, to his complete defeat and expulsion from Sicily. 

But Octavian had scarcely time to congratulate himself on 
his success, when he became aware of a new danger. The 



382 RAWLINSON 

Pompeian land forces, which were considerable, opened com- 
munications with Lepidtis, and having, conjointly with his 
troops, plundered Messana, saluted him as their imperator, 
and ranged themselves under his banner. The weak noble, 
finding himself at the head of twenty legions, was intoxicated 
with his good-fortune, and assuming an attitude of complete 
independence and even of hostility, set Octavian at defiance. 
A fresh and bloody struggle would have followed but for the 
prompt boldness of the young Caesar ; who, entering his rival's 
camp, unarmed and almost unattended, made an eloquent ap- 
peal to the soldiers, which was successful. Deserting Lepidus 
in a body, they declared for Octavian ; who degraded his fallen 
rival from the triumvirship, but spared his life, and allowed 
him to retain his office of chief pontiff. 

With the removal of Lepidus a war between Octavian and 
Antony became imminent. The bond of affinity by which it 
had been attempted to unite the interest of the rivals had failed. 
The wild and rough Antony soon tired of his discreet but some- 
what cold spouse ; and his roving fancy returned to the volupt- 
uous Egyptian, from whom it had strayed for a while. In B.C. 
37, on setting out for the Parthian War, he left Octavia behind 
him in Italy; and ere the year B.C. 36 was out, he had re- 
united himself to his old mistress. Henceforth until his death 
she retained her influence over him unimpaired ; and we must 
ascribe the deterioration in Antony's character to this degrad- 
ing connection. His great preparations against the Parthians 
had no commensurate result. After three campaigns, one in 
Media Atropatene (B.C. 36), wherein he acquired no honors, 
the others in Armenia (B.C. 35 to 34), where he was somewhat 
more successful, Antony abstained from military enterprise 
and devoted himself to pleasure. The autumn of B.C. 34 was 
given up to debauchery and dissipation. In the infatuation 
caused by his passion, Antony not only acknowledged Caesa- 
rion, and assigned crowns to his own children by Cleopatra, 
but actually ceded to Cleopatra, a foreigner, the Roman prov- 
inces of Coele-Syria and Cyprus. Such conduct was no doubt 
treasonable, and furnished Octavian with the decent pretext 
for a declaration of war, for which he had long been waiting. 

Meanwhile Octavian had been exercising his legions, raising 



ANCIENT HISTORY 383 

his reputation, and adding important tracts to the Roman Em- 
pire in the West. In B.C. 35 he attacked the Salassi and 
Taurisci, nations of the Western Alps; and in the course of 
the two following years he reduced to subjection the Liburni 
and lapydes in Dalmatia and the Pannonians in the valley of 
the Save. A new province was here added to the State. Oc- 
tavian himself received a wound ; and his popularity, to w^hich 
he artfully added by causing Agrippa as sedile to lavish vast 
sums on the improvement and adornment of the capital, was 
now at its height. His good-fortune enabled him at the same 
juncture to add a second province to the Empire in Maure- 
tania, which was annexed peaceably on the death of Bocchus. 
Feeling himself assured of his position and of the good-will 
of the Roman people, Octavian now resolved to precipitate 
the rupture with his rival, for which he had been preparing ever 
since the formation of the triumvirate. 

The year B.C. 32 was passed by the rivals in mutual recrim- 
inations, in threats, insults, and preparations for the coming 
struggle. Antony divorced Octavia with all the harshness 
allowable by Roman law ; made an alliance with the Parthians ; 
collected a vast fleet ; levied troops throughout all the East ; 
assembled his armaments on the coast of Epirus, and pre- 
pared to cross into Italy. Octavian inveighed against Antony 
in the Senate ; drove his partisans from Rome ; caused his will 
to be opened and published ; had Cleopatra declared a public 
enemy ; and, collecting together all the forces of the West, 
occupied the eastern shore of Italy with his fleets and armies. 
For a while the two rivals watched each other across the strait. 
At length, in the spring of B.C. 31, Octavian, though his forces 
were inferior in number, made the plunge. His fleet took 
Corcyra. His army was safely conveyed to Epirus. Both 
were rapidly directed towards the Ambracian Gulf, where lay 
the fleet and army of his adversary. The work of seduction 
then began. Octavian found little difficulty in drawing over 
to his service one Antonian officer after another, Antony's 
indecision and his infatuation for Cleopatra having greatly dis- 
gusted his followers. These repeated defections reduced the 
triumvir to a state of despondency, and led him most unhappily 
to accept Cleopatra's fatal counsels. Under pretence of giving 



384 RAWLINSON 

battle to his adversary's fleet, Antony, on the morning of Sep- 
tember 2, B.C. 31, put to sea with the dehberate intention of 
deserting his land force and flying with Cleopatra to Egypt. 
Actium was not a battle in any proper sense of the term. It 
was an occasion on which a commander voluntarily sacrificed 
the greater portion of his fleet in order to escape with the re- 
mainder. We can with difficulty understand how Antony was 
induced to yield everything to his adversary without really 
striking a blow. But the fact that he did so yield is plain. 
He left his land army without orders, to fight or make terms, 
' as it pleased ; he left his fleet, not when it was defeated, but 
when it was still struggling manfully, and but for his flight 
might have been victorious. It was his desertion which de- 
cided the engagement, and, with it, the fate of the Roman 
world. It is with good reason that the Empire is regarded 
as dating from the day of Actium. Though Antony existed, 
and resisted, for nearly a year longer in Egypt, it was only 
as a desperate man, clinging to life till the last moment. From 
the day of Actium Octavian was sole master of the Roman 
world. 

SIXTH PERIOD. 

From the Establishment of the Empire under Augustus to 
the Destruction of the Roman Power in the West by 
Odoacer, from B.C. 31 to A.D. 476. 

Preliminary Remarks on the Geographical Extent and Principal 
Divisions of the Roman Empire. 

)\ The boundaries of the Roman Empire, as established by 
Augustus, may be stated in a general way, as follows : — On the 
north, the British Channel, the German Ocean, the Rhine, the 
Danube, and the Euxine ; on the east, the Euphrates and the 
desert of Syria ; on the south, the great African desert ; and on 
the west, the Atlantic. It extended from east to west a distance 
of fifty degrees, or about 2700 miles, between Cape Finisterre 
and the vicinity of Erzeroum. Its average breadth was about 
fifteen degrees, or above 1000 miles. It comprised the modern 
countries of Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Western Hoi- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 385 

land, Rhenish Prussia, parts of Baden and Wiirtemberg, most 
of Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy, the Tyrol, Austria Proper, West- 
ern Plungary, Croatia, Slavonia, Servia, Turkey in Europe, 
Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Idumsea, Egypt, the Cy- 
renaica, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and most of Morocco. Its 
area may be roughly estimated at a million and a half of square 
miles. 

The entire Empire, exclusive of Italy, was divided into 
" Provinces," which may be conveniently grouped under three 
heads : viz., the Western, or European ; the Eastern, or Asiatic ; 
and the Southern, or African. The Western, or European, 
provinces were fourteen in number ; viz., Spain, Gaul, Ger- 
many, Vindelicia, Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Moesia, lUyri- 
cum, Macedonia, Thrace, Achgea, Sicily, and Sardinia; the 
Eastern, or Asiatic, were eight, viz., Asia Proper, Bithynia, 
Galatia, Pamphylia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, and Palestine ; 
the Southern or African were five, viz., Egypt, the Cyrena'ica 
(including Crete), Africa Proper, Numidia, and Mauretania. 
The entire number was thus twenty-seven. 

Spain (Hispania, Iberia), the most western of the European 
provinces, included the entire peninsula, and was washed on all 
sides by the sea excepting towards the north-east, where it was 
separated from Gaul by the Pyrenees. It was subdivided into 
three distinct portions, generally administered by three differ- 
ent governors : viz., Lusitania, or the country of the Lusitani, 
corresponding nearly to the modern Portugal ; Bastica, the 
country about the Bsetis (or Guadalquivir), the modern An- 
dalucia ; and Tarraconensis, comprising all the rest of the pen- 
insula. Lusitania was inhabited by three principal races, the 
Gallaeci in the north (Gallicia), the Lusitani in the centre, and 
the Turdetani in the south. It had three great rivers, the Du- 
rius (Douro), the Tagus (Tajo), and the Anas (Guadiana). 
The chief towns were Augusta Emerita on the Anas, now 
Merida, and Olisipo on the Tagus, now Lisboa (Lisbon). 
Bsetica was inhabited by the Turduli towards the north and the 
Bastuli towards the south. Its only important river was the 
Bsetis. Its chief towns were Corduba (Cordova) and Hispalis 
(Sevilla) in the interior, and on the coast Gades, now Cadiz. 
Tarraconensis, by far the largest of the three subdivisions, com- 
25 



386 RAWLTNSON 

prised the upper courses of the Durius, Tagus, and Anas, and 
the entire tract watered by the Iberus (Ebro), Turia, Sucre 
(Jucar), and Tader (Segura) rivers. It was inhabited, towards 
the north, by the Astures, Cantabri, Vaccaei, Vascones, and 
others ; in the central regions, by the Carpetani, CeUiberi, and 
Ilergetes ; and, along the east coast, by the Indigetes, Ausetani, 
Cosetani, Ilercavones, Suessetani, Contestani, etc. Its chief 
cities were Tarraco, the capital, on the east coast, now Tarra- 
gona ; Carthago Nova (Carthagena) ; Caesar- Augusta (Zara- 
goza or Saragossa), on the Iberus ; Toletum (Toledo), on the 
Upper Tagus; and Ilerda (Lerida). In Tarraconensis were 
also included the Balearic isles. Major (Majorca) and Minor 
(Minorca), and the Pityusse, Ebusus (Ivica), and Ophiusa (For- 
mentera). 

Gaul (Gallia), which adjoined Spain to the north-east, cor- 
responded nearly with the modern France, but included also 
portions of Belgium and Switzerland. It was bounded on the 
west and north by the ocean ; on the east by Roman Germany, 
Rhsetia, and Gallia Cisalpina ; on the south by the Pyrenees and 
the Mediterranean. It had five principal rivers: the Scaldis 
(Scheldt) and Sequana (Seine) in the north ; the Liger (Loire) 
and Garumna (Garonne) towards the west ; and the Rhodanus 
(Rhone) in the south. Augustus subdivided it into four 
regions : viz., Aquitania, the country of the Aquitani, towards 
the south-west, from the Pyrenees to the Loire ; Lugdunensis, 
to the north-west, reaching from Cape Finisterre to Lyons 
(Lugdunum), the capital ; Narbonensis, towards the south-east, 
between Aquitania and the maritime Alps ; and Belgica, 
towards the north-east, reaching from the British Channel to 
the lake of Geneva. Aquitania comprised the basins of the 
Garumna (Garonne), Duranius (Dordogne), Carantonus 
(Charente), and half the basin of the Liger (Loire). Its chief 
tribes were the Aquitani in the south, the Santones and Pic- 
tones towards the north-west, the Bituriges towards the north- 
east, in the tract about Bourges, and the Arverni to the south- 
east, in Auvergne. The most important cities were Climberris 
and Burdigala (Bourdeaux). Lugdunensis consisted of the 
region between the Loire and the Seine, together with a tongue 
of land stretching along the Saone to a little below Lyons. Its 



ANCIENT HISTORY 387 

principal tribes were the /Edui in the south ; the Senones, 
Parisii, Carnutes, and Cadurci in the interior ; the Veneti, Osis- 
mii, Curiosohtae, Unelli, and Lexovii upon the coast. The 
capital, Lugdunum, was inconveniently placed at the extreme 
south-east of the province. The other important towns were 
Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris), Genabum (Orleans), and Julioma- 
gus (Angers). Narbonensis extended from the Upper Ga- 
ronne on the west to the Var upon the east, lying along the 
Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. Inland it reached as far as 
the Cevennes, the Middle Rhone, and the lake of Geneva. The 
chief tribes inhabiting it were the Volcae in the west, the Allo- 
broges in the tract between the Rhone and the Isere (Isara), 
the Vocontii between the Isere and the Durance, and the 
Salluvii on the coast near Marseilles. Its principal cities 
were Narbo, the capital, now Narbonne, on the Mediterranean ; 
Tolosa (Toulouse), Vienna (Vienne), Nemausus (Nismes), 
Geneva, and Massilia (Marseilles). Belgica lay between the 
Seine and the Scheldt, and extended southward to the Bernese 
Alps and the northern shore of the lake of Geneva. It was 
bounded on the east by the Roman Germany and Rhsetia, on 
the west by Gallia Lugdunensis, and on the south by Gallia 
Narbonensis and Gallia Cisalpina. The principal tribes were, in 
the north, the Caletes, Ambiani, Bellovaci, Atrebates, Morini, 
and Nervii ; in the central region, the Suessiones, the Remi, the 
Treviri, the Leuci, and the Lingones ; towards the south, the 
Sequani and the Helvetii. The most important towns were 
Noviodunum (Soissons), Durocortorum (Reims), Augusta 
Trevirorum (Treves), Divodurum (Metz), Vesontio (Besan- 
gon), and Aventicum (Avenches, in Switzerland). 

Germany (which is sometimes included in Gaul) comprised 
two divisions, the Lower (Inferior) and the Upper (Superior). 
Lower Germany lay upon the sea-coast, between the mouth of 
the Scheldt and that of the Rhine. It comprised Eastern Bel- 
gium, Western Holland, and Rhenish Prussia as far south as 
the Ahr. Its chief tribes were the Batavi and Menapii in the 
north ; the Ubii on the Rhine near Cologne ; the Eburones and 
Condrusi on the Mosa (Meuse) ; and the Segni in the Ardennes. 
The principal towns were Noviomagus (Nimeguen), Colonia 
Agrippinensis (Cologne), and Bonna (Bonn). Upper Ger- 



388 RAWLINSON 

many was a narrow strip of land along the course of the Rhine 
from Remagen, at the mouth of the Ahr valley, to the point at 
which the Rhine receives the waters of the Aar. It was in- 
habited by the Caracates, the Vangiones, the Nemetes, the 
Triboci, and the Rauraci. The principal cities were Ad Con- 
fluentes (Coblenz), Mogontiacum (Mayence), Borbetomagus 
(Worms), Argentoratum (Strasburg), and Augusta Rauraco- 
rum (Basle). 

Vindelicia, or the country of the Vindelici, lay between the 
Danube and the Bavarian Alps. It corresponded nearly with 
Bavaria south of the Danube, including however a corner be- 
tween the Rhine and the Upper Danube which now belongs to 
Wurtemberg and Baden. It was inhabited, towards the north, 
by the Vindelici ; towards the south, by the Brigantes. The 
chief cities were Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg) and 
Brigantia on the Lake of Constance (Bregenz). 

Rhaetia lay south of Vindelicia and east of the country of the 
Helvetii. It included the modern Tyrol, the Vorarlberg, and 
the part of Switzerland known as the Orisons. Among its 
tribes were, besides the Rhaetia, the Venostes, Vennones, Brix- 
entes, Tridentini, Medoaci, etc. Its chief cities were Veldidena 
(Wilten, near Inspriick), Curia (Chur or Coire), and Tridentum 
(Trent). 

Noricum, which lay east of Vindelicia and Rhaetia, stretched 
along the Danube from its junction with the Inn to a point a 
little above Vienna. It comprised Styria, Carinthia, and the 
greater part of Austria Proper. The chief cities were Juvavia 
(Salzburg) and Boiodurum (Passau). 

Pannonia, one of the most important of the Roman prov- 
inces, lay east and partly south of Noricum. It was bounded 
on two sides, the north and east, by the Danube, which in this 
part of its course makes the remarkable bend to the south by 
which its lower is thrown three degrees south of its upper 
course. On the west an artificial line divided Pannonia from 
Noricum ; on the south it was separated from Illyricum by the 
mountains directly south of the valley of the Save. It thus 
comprised all Hungary south of the Danube, together with 
all Slavonia, and parts of Austria Proper, of Styria, Croatia, and 
Bosnia. It was divided, like Germany, into Upper and Lower. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 389 

Upper Pannonia adjoined Noriciim, extending along the 
Danube from a little above Vienna to the mouth of the Arrabo 
(Raab). Its chief tribes were the Boii in the north, the Latovici, 
Jassii, and Colapini in the south, along the course of the Save. 
The principal towns were Vindobona (Vienna) and Carnuntum 
on the Danube, Siscia (Zissek) on the Save, and ^mona (Lay- 
bach) between the Save and the Alpes Julise. Lower Pannonia 
lay along the Danube from the mouth of the Arrabo to that of 
the Save. Its most important cities were Acincum (Buda- 
Pesth) and Acimincum (Pcterwardin) on the Danube, Mursa 
(Esseg) on the Drave, and on the Save Sirmium (Zabatz or 
Alt-Schabaaz) and Taurunum (Semlin). 

Mcesia was the last of the Danubian provinces. It lay along 
the river from its junction with the Save to its mouth, extend- 
ing southward to the line of the Balkan. Its western bound- 
ary, which separated it from Illyria, was the course of the Dri- 
nus (Drina). It corresponded thus almost exactly to the 
modern Servia and Bulgaria. The Romans divided it, like Pan- 
nonia, into Superior and Inferior. Moesia Superior reached 
from the Drinus and the mouth of the Save to the little river 
Cebrus or Ciabrus (Ischia), whence a line drawn southward 
separated it from Moesia Inferior. It comprised thus Servia 
and a part of Western Bulgaria. The chief towns were Singi- 
dunum (Belgrade) and Naissus (Nissa). Moesia Inferior, a 
longer but a narrower tract, stretched from the Ciabrus to the 
mouth of the great river. It comprised about nine-tenths of 
the modern Bulgaria, together with a small portion of Roume- 
lia. The chief towns were Dorostolum (Silistria) and Axiopo- 
lis (Rassova) on the Danube, and Odessus (Varna), Tomi 
(Tomisvar), and Istrus (Kustendjeh), on the coast of the 
Euxine. 

Illyricum lay along the western shore of the Adriatic from 
the peninsula of Istria to Aulon (Avlona) in Epirus. It thus 
comprised the present Montenegro, the Herzegovina, and the 
greater part of Albania. The more northern portion of Illyri- 
cum was known as Dalmatia, the more southern as Illyria 
Proper. Among the principal tribes inhabiting it were the 
lapydes and Liburni in the north ; the Breuci, Mazsei, Dassi- 
tiatae, and Deimates in the mid-region; and the Autariatae, 



390 



RAWLINSON 



Parthini, and Taulantii in the south. Its chief towns were 
Scardona (which retains its name), Narona on the Naro (Na- 
renta), Epidaurus on the Gulf of Cattaro, Scodra (Scutari, on 
the Bojana), Lissus (Lesch or Allessio, on the Drin), Dyr- 
rhachium (Durazzo), and Appollonia (Polhna). These were 
all situated on or near the coast. 

Macedonia lay south of Illyricum and Moesia Superior, and 
extended across the peninsula from the Adriatic to the .^gean. 
On the east it was bounded by Thrace, the line of separation 
being the river Nestus. On the south an artificial line, carried 
from the Ambracian to the Maliac Gulf, divided it from Achgea. 
It comprised, besides the ancient Macedon, most of Epirus and 
the whole of Thessaly. Its chief towns were Nicopolis, on the 
Gulf of Ambracia or Actium, built by Augustus to celebrate 
his victory ; Edessa, Pella, Beroea, Thessalonica, and Philippi. 

South of Moesia Inferior and east of Macedonia was Thrace, 
which under the first Caesars still retained a semi-independent 
position, being governed by kings of its own, Rhescuporis, and 
others ; but was reduced into the form of a province by Clau- 
dius. The principal tribes in Roman times were the Odrysae, 
the Bessi, and the Coeletse. The cities of most importance were 
Byzantium and Apollonia (Sizeboli) upon the coast, and Philip- 
polis (Filibe), and afterwards Hadrianopolis, in the interior. 

Achsea lay directly south of Macedonia, corresponding al- 
most exactly with the modern Kingdom of Greece. It includ- 
ed the Ionian islands and the Cyclades, but not Crete, which 
belonged to the Cyrena'ica. The chief towns were Patrse 
(Patras), Corinth, and Athens. 

The Eastern or Asiatic provinces have now to be briefly 
described. As already stated, they were eight in number : viz., 
Asia Proper, Bithynia, Galatia, Pamphylia, Cappadocia, Ci- 
licia, Syria, and Palestine. 

Asia Proper, which included the ancient Mysia, Lydia, Caria, 
and a part of Phrygia, occupied the whole western coast of 
Asia Minor, extending from the Cianian Gulf in the Propontis 
to Caunus on the Sea of Rhodes. Inland it reached to about 
the 32d degree of east longitude, where it adjoined Galatia and 
Cappadocia. Bithynia bounded it on the north, Pamphylia on 
the south. The Roman capital of Asia Proper was Ephesus ; 



ANCIENT HISTORY 391 

but the following towns were of almost equal importance: 
Smyrna, Pergamus, Sardis, Apameia Cibotus, and Synnada. 

Bithynia, which lay north, or rather north-east, of " Asia," 
had nearly its old dimensions, extending along the coast from 
the mouth of the Macestus on the west to that of the Parthenius 
upon the east. Inland it reached a little south of the 40th 
parallel, being bounded towards the south-east by the upper 
course of the Sangarius (Sakkariyeh), which separated it from 
both " Asia " and Galatia. Its Roman capital was Nicomedia 
(now Ismud), in the inner recess of the Gulf of Astacus. Its 
other important cities were Nicsea (Iznik), Chalcedon (Scutari), 
and Heracleia (Eregli). 

Galatia was situated to the east of Bithynia. It included the 
ancient Paphlagonia, North-eastern Phrygia, and a part of 
Western Cappadocia. The southern part of the province, 
which lay on both sides of the river Halys, was Galatia Proper, 
and was inhabited by the three tribes of the Tolistoboii, the 
Tectosages, and the Trocmi. The chief city of Galatia was 
Ancyra (Angora) on the Upper Sangarius. Other important 
towns were Pessinus on the western border, in the country of 
the Tolistoboii, Tavia east of the Halys, in the country of the 
Trocmi, and Sinope on the Euxine. 

Pamphylia, situated to the south of " Asia," contained the 
four subdivisions of Pamphylia Proper, the region originally 
bearing the name, Lycia, Pisidia, and Isauria. It extended 
along the southern coast of Asia Minor from Caunus to Cora- 
cesium, and reached inland to the Lakes of Bei-Shehr and 
Egerdir. Its chief city was Perga in Pamphylia Proper ; be- 
sides which it contained the following towns of note : Xanthus 
in Lycia, Etenna and Antioch in Pisidia, Oroanda and Isaura 
in Isauria. 

Cappadocia adjoined Galatia and Pamphylia towards the 
east. Like Pamphylia, it comprised four regions : viz., Lyca- 
onia, the most western, which adjoined Isauria and " Asia ; " 
Cappadocia Proper, east of Lycaonia, on both sides of the river 
Halys ; Pontus, north of Cappadocia Proper, between it and 
the Euxine ; and Armenia Minor, south-east of Pontus, a rug- 
ged mountain tract lying along the Upper Euphrates. The 
chief city of Cappadocia was Caesarea Mazaca (Kaisariyeh), be- 



392 RAWLINSON 

tween Mount Argaeus and the Halys. It contained also the 
important towns of Iconium (Koniyeh) in Lycaonia; Tyana 
and JMcHteno (Malatiyeh) in Cappadocia Proper ; and Amisus, 
Trapezus (Trebizond), Aniasia, Sebastia, and NicopoHs in Pon- 
tus. 

Cilicia lay east of Pamphylia and south of Cappadocia. It 
reached along the south coast of Asia IMinor from Coracesium 
to Alexandria (Iskanderoun). The eastern portion of the prov- 
ince was known as Campestris, the western as Tvlontana or 
Aspera. Tarsus, on the Cydnus, was its capital. Other im- 
portant towns were Issus in the pass of the name, Mopsuestia 
on the Pyramus, and Seleuceia on the Calycadnus, near its 
mouth. 

Syria, which adjoined Cappadocia and Cilicia, extended 
from about the 38th parallel upon the ntirth to Mount Carniel 
towards the south, a distance of nearly 400 miles. It was 
bounded on the east by the Euphrates as far as Thapsacus and 
then by the waterless Syrian desert. Southward it adjoined on 
Palestine. The province was divided into ten principal regions: 
— (i) Commagene, towards the north, between Cilicia and 
Armenia ; chief city, Samosata (Sumeisat) on the Euphrates. 
(2) Cyrrhestica, south of Commagene, between Cilicia and 
Mesopotamia ; chief cities, Cirrhus, Zeugma (Rum-kaleh), and 
'Bambyce or Hierapolis (Bambuk). (3) Seleucis, on the coast, 
south of Cilicia and south-west of Cyrrhestica ; chief city, An- 
tioch, with its suburb, Daphne, and its port, Seleuceia. (4) 
Casiotis, south of Seleucis, so called from the Mons Casius, ex- 
tending along the shore from the foot of that mountain to the 
river Eleutherus (Nahr-el-Kebir) ; chief cities, Laodiceia and 
Marathus. (5) Phoenicia, a thin slip of coast, due south of 
Casiotis, reaching from the river Eleutherus to Mount Carmel ; 
chief towns, Antaradus, Berytus (Beyrut), Sidon, Tyre, and 
Ptolemais (Acre). (6) Chalybonitis, south of Cyrrhestica, and 
cast of Seleucis, lying between Seleucis and the Euphrates ; 
chief city, Chalybon (now Aleppo). (7) Chalcis or Chalcidice, 
south of Chalybonitis ; chief city, Chalcis, on the lake into 
which the river of Aleppo empties itself. (8) Apamcne, south 
of Chalcidice, and east of Casiotis, comprising a large portion 
of the Orontes valley, together with the country east of it ; chief 



ANCIENT HISTORY 393 

city, Apameia ; important towns, Epiphaneia (Hamah) and 
Emesa (Hems). (9) Co^le-Syria, south of Apamcne and east 
of Phoenicia, consisting of the valley between the Lebanon and 
Anti-Lebanon, together with the Anti-Lebanon itself and the 
fertile tract at its eastern base towards Damascus ; chief cities, 
Damascus, Abila, and riclioi)olis (IJalbek). And (10) Palmy- 
rcne, the desert tract south of Chalybonitis and east of Chalci- 
dice and Apamene, comprising some fertile oases, of which the 
j)rincipal contained the famous Tadmor or Palmyra, " the city 
of Palms." The capital of the entire Syrian province was An- 
tioch, on the Lower Orontes. The most important of the other 
cities in Roman times were Damascus and Emesa. 

Palestine, which adjoined Syria on the south, was, like Syria, 
divided up into a number of districts. The chief of these were 
Galilee, Samaria, Judaa, Idumaea, and Persea, which last in- 
cluded Itursea, Trachonitis, Auranitis, Batanaea, etc. Galilee 
was entirely an inland region, being shut out from the coast by 
the strip of territory belonging to Phoenicia. It reached from 
Hermon on the north to the plain of Esdraelon and valley of 
P.eth-shan upon the south. The most important of its cities 
were Caesarea Philippi, near the site of the ancient Dan, Ti- 
berias, on the lake of the name, Capernaum, and Jotapata. 
Samaria, which lay south of Galilee, extended from the plain of 
Esdraelon to the hill-country of Benjamin (about lat. 32°). It 
reached across from the sea to the Jordan, including the rich 
plain of Sharon as well as the hill-country of Manasseh and 
Ephraim. The chief cities in Roman times were Caesarea, up- 
on the coast ; Sebaste (Samaria), Neapolis (Shcchem), now 
Nablus, and Shiloh, in the interior. Judaea, which succeeded 
Samaria towards the south, occupied the coast line from a little 
to the north of Joppa (JafYa) to Raphia (Refah). Eastward it 
was bounded by the Jordan and the Dead Sea, southward by 
Idumaea or Edom. It comprised the hill-country of Judah and 
Benjamin, the desert towards the Dead Sea, and the rich She- 
fclah or plain of the Philistines. The chief towns were Jerusa- 
lem, Hebron, and Joppa (Jaffa). Idumaea, or " Roman 
Arabia," was the tract between Judaea and Egypt ; it included 
the Sinaitic peninsula, Idumaea Proper, and a narrow tract 
along the eastern coast of the Red Sea, reaching as far south 



394 



RAWLINSON 



as lat. 24°. The chief city was Petra. Peraea, or the tract 
across Jordan, comprised the entire habitable country between 
the great river of Palestine and the Syrian desert. The more 
northern parts were known as Ittirsea and Trachonitis ; below 
these came Auranitis (the Hauran), Galaditis (Gilead), Ammo- 
nitis, and Moabitis. The chief cities were Gerasa (Jerash) and 
Gadara. 

The African or Southern provinces were five in number: viz., 
Egypt ; the Cyrenaica, including Crete ; Africa Proper ; Nu- 
midia ; and Mauretania. Of these Egypt was by far the most 
important, being the granary of the Empire. 

Egypt, according to Roman notions, included, besides the 
Delta and the valley of the Nile, first, the entire tract between 
the Nile and the Red Sea ; secondly, the north coast of Africa 
from the western mouth of the Nile as far as Parsetonium ; and 
thirdly, the oases of the Libyan desert as far west as long. 28°. 
Southward the limit was Syene, now Assouan. In Egypt 
Proper, or the Nile valley and Delta, three regions were recog- 
nized — yEgyptus Inferior, or the Delta, which contained thirty- 
five nomes ; Heptanomis, the mid-region, containing seven ; 
and ^gyptus Superior, the Upper valley, containing fifteen. 
The capital of the province was Alexandria ; other important 
towns were, in Lower Egypt, Pelusium, Sais, and Heliopolis ; 
in the Heptanomis, Arsinoe, Heracleopolis, Antinoe, and Her- 
mopolis Magna; in ^gyptus Superior, Thebes, Panopolis, 
Abydus, Ombos, and Syene. 

The Cyrenaica adjoined Egypt upon the west, and extended 
along the coast from long. 2.y° to 19°. It was a tolerably broad 
tract, reaching so far inland as to include the oasis of Ammon, 
and perhaps that of Aujilah. The chief towns were Berenice 
(now Benghazi), Arsinoe (Teuchira), Ptolemais, near Barca 
(now Dolmeta), and Cyrene (now Grennah). In Crete, which 
belonged to this province, the most important towns were 
Gnossus on the north coast, and Gortyna in the interior, 

Africa Proper corresponded nearly to the two modern Bey- 
liks of Tunis and Tripoli. It extended along the shore from 
Automalax on the Greater Syrtis to the river Tusca (Wady-ez- 
zain), which divided it from Numidia. The province was made 
up of two very different regions, viz., a narrow strip of flat coast 



ANCIENT HISTORY 395 

reaching from Atitomalax to the Gulf of Khabs or Lesser Syr- 
tis, and a broad, hilly, and extremely fertile region, north of the 
Syrtis and the salt lake known as the Shibkah, the former cor- 
responding to the modern Tripoli, the latter to Tunis. The 
chief towns were, in the western hill-tract, Hadrumetum, Car- 
thage, Utica, and Hippo Zaritus ; in the low eastern region, 
Tacape and Leptis Magna, or Neapolis. 

Numidia was, comparatively speaking, a small tract, its sea- 
board reaching only from the Tusca to the Ampsaga, a distance 
of about 150 miles. Inland it extended as far as the Atlas 
mountains. Its chief town was Hippo Regius, the modern 
Bona. 

Mauretania, the country of the Mauri or Moors, extended 
from the river Ampsaga on the east to about Cape Ghir (lat. 
30° 35') upon the west. It corresponded in a measure to the 
modern Morocco and Algeria, but did not reach so far either 
eastward or westward. The province was subdivided into two 
portions, which were called respectively Tingitana and Csesari- 
ensis. Tingitana reached from Cape Ghir to the mouth of the 
Mulucha (Mulwia). It took its name from Tingis, the capital, 
now Tangiers. Csesariensis lay between the Mulucha and the 
Ampsaga. The chief cities were Caesarea and Igilgilis, both 
on the Mediterranean. 

Such was the extent, and such were the divisions and sub- 
divisions of the Roman Empire under Augustus. During the 
century, however, which followed upon his decease (A.D. 14 to 
114) several large additions were made to the Roman terri- 
tory ; these will now require a few words of notice. The most 
important of them were those of the Agri Decumates, of Brit- 
ain, Dacia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria. 

The Agri Decumates fell under Roman protection towards 
the close of the reign of Augustus, but were not incorporated 
into the Empire till about B.C. 100. They consisted of a tract 
between the Upper Danube and the Middle Rhine, reaching 
from about Ingolstadt on the one stream to the mouth of the 
Lahn upon the other, and thus comprising most of Wurtem- 
berg and Baden, together with a portion of South-western 
Prussia. The most important city in this region was Sumalo- 
cenna on the Upper Main. 



396 RAWLINSON 

Britain was conquered as far as the Dee and the Wash under 
Claudius, and was probably at once reduced to the form of a 
Roman province. The chief tribes of this portion of the island 
were the Cantii in Kent, the Trinobantes in Essex, the Iceni in 
Norfolk and Suflfolk, the Catyeuchlani, Dobuni, and Cornavii, 
in the midland counties, the Regni in Sussex, Surrey and 
Hants, the Belga^ in Somerset and Wilts, the Damnonii in 
Devon and Cornwall, the Silures in South Wales, and the 
Ordovices in North Wales. The most important cities were 
Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London), Verulami- 
um (St. Alban's), Isca (Caerleon upon Usk), and Deva (Ches- 
ter). Under Nero and Vespasian further conquests were 
made ; and under Titus the frontier was advanced as far north 
as the Friths of Forth and Clyde, which thenceforth formed 
the real limit of *' Britannia Romana." The Highlands of 
Scotland remained in the possession of the Caledonii, and no 
attempt was ever made to conquer Ireland (Hibernia or lerne). 
The tribes of the North were chiefly the Damnii, Selgovoe, and 
Otadeni in the Scotch Lowlands ; the Brigantes in Yorkshire, 
Lancashire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham ; and 
the Coritani in Lincoln and Notts. The most important of the 
Northern cities was Eboracum (York). 

Dacia, which was added to the Empire by Trajan, comprised 
Hungary east of the Theiss, together with the modern prin- 
cipalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. On the west the Theiss 
separated it from the Jazyges Metanastae, who held the tongue 
of land between the Danube and Theiss rivers. The Car- 
pathians formed its boundary upon the north. Eastward it 
reached to the Hierasus, which is either the Sereth, or more 
probably the Pruth. Southward it was divided from Moesia by 
the Danube. The native capital was Zermizegethusa, which 
became Ulpia Trajana under the Romans. Other important 
towns were Tibiscum (Temesvar), Apulum (Carloburg), and 
Napoca (Neumarkt). 

Armenia, which, like Dacia, was conquered by Trajan, ad- 
joined upon the east the Roman province of Cappadocia, and 
extended thence to the Caspian. On the north it was bounded 
by the river Kur or Cyrus, on the south by the Mons Masius, 
on the south-east by the high mountain-chain between the lakes 



ANCIENT HISTORY 397 

of Van and Urumiyeh, and by the river Araxes (Aras). Its 
chief cities were Artaxata on the Araxes, Amida (Diarbekr) in 
the upper valley of the Tigris, and Tigranocerta on the flanks 
of Mount Niphates. 

Mesopotamia, likewise one of Trajan's conquests, lay south 
of Armenia, extending from the crest of the Mons Masius al- 
most to the shore of the Persian Gulf, and comprising the whole 
tract between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Its chief 
regions were Osrhoene and Mygdonia in the north, in the 
south Babylonia and Mesene. In Roman times, Seleucia, on 
the Tigris, was its most important city. Other places of some 
consequence were Edessa and Carrhge (Haran) in Osrhoene, 
Nisibis in Mygdonia, Circesium near the mouth of the Khabur, 
and Hatra in the desert between the Khabur and the Tigris. 

Assyria, conquered by Trajan, and again by Septimius Se- 
verus, lay east of the Tigris, between that stream and the moun- 
tains. Southward it extended to the Lesser Zab, or perhaps to 
the Diyaleh. The only town of importance which it contained 
was i\rbela. 

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 

FIRST SECTION. 

From the Battle of Actium, B.C. 31, to the Death of Corn- 
modus, A.D. 192.* 

If we regard the reign of Augustus as commencing with the 
victory of Actium, we must assign to his sole administration 
the long term of forty-five years. He was thirty-two years of 

* Sources. The only continuous history which we possess for this 
period is that of Dio Cassius (books li. to Ixii.), the lost portions of 
whose work may be supplied from the abridgment of Xiphilinus. For 
the earlier Emperors the most important authority is Tacitus, whose 
" Annals " and " Histories" gave a continuous account of Roman affairs 
from the closing years of Augustus to the death of Domitian. Unfortu- 
nately, large portions of both these works are lost, and no abridgment 
supplies their place. Much interesting information is conveyed by the 
biographical work of Suetonius (vit?e xii. " Csesarum"), in which time 
has luckily made no gaps; but the scandalous stories told by this 
anecdote-monger are not always to be received as truth. Some light 



398 RAWLINSON 

age when he obtained the undisputed mastery of the Roman 
world: he Hved to be seventy-seven. This long tenure of 
power, joined to his own prudence and sagacity, enabled him 
to settle the foundations of the Empire on so firm and solid 
a basis, that they were never, except for a moment, shaken 
afterwards. To his prudence and sagacity it was also due that 
the Empire took the particular shape which in point of fact 
it at first assumed ; that, instead of being, like the kingdoms 
of the East, an open and undisguised despotism, it was an 
absolute monarchy concealed under republican forms. Warned 
by the fate of Julius, the inheritor of his position resolved to 
cloak his assumption of supreme and unlimited authority 
under all possible constitutional formalities. Carefully es- 
chewing every illegal title, avoiding even the name " Dictator," 
to which unpleasant recollections attached from its having been 
borne by Marius and Sulla, he built up a composite power by 
simply obtaining for himself, in a way generally recognized 
as legal, all the various ofifices of the State which had any real 
political significance. These offices, moreover, were mostly 
taken not in perpetuity, but for a term of years, and were 
renewed from time to time at the pressing instance of the 
Senate. Some of them were also, to a certain extent, shared 
with others — a further apparent safeguard. State and gran- 
deur were at the same time avoided ; no new insignia of office 
were introduced ; the manners and deportment of the ruler 
were citizen-like. Thus both the great parties in the State 
were fairly satisfied : it was not difBcult for republicans to 
flatter themselves that the Republic still existed ; while mon- 
archists were with better reason convinced that it had passed 
away forever. 

The chief apparent check on the authority of Augustus was 
the Senate. Retaining the prestige of a great name, favorably 
regarded by large numbers among the people, and possessed 
of considerable powers in respect of taxation, of administration, 

is thrown upon the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius by the " History " 
of Velleius Paterculus. and on those of Galba and Otho by their 
" Lives " in Plutarch. The Oriental history of the period receives im- 
portant illustration from the two great works of Josephus (" Antiqui- 
tates Judaicae " and " De Bello Judaico "). 



ANCIENT HISTORY 399 

and of nomination to high offices, the Senate, had it been ani- 
mated by a bold and courageous spirit, might have formed not 
merely an ornamental adjunct to the throne, but a real coun- 
terbalancing power in the State, a barrier against oppression 
and tyranny. The Senate had its own treasury (cerarium), 
which was distinct from the privy purse (fiscus) of the Emperor ; 
it divided with the Emperor the government of the Roman 
world, having its own senatorial provinces {provincice Scnatus), 
as he had his imperial ones {provincice Cccsaris); it appointed 
" presidents " and " proconsuls " to administer the one, as 
he did his " lieutenants " (Icgati) to administer the other. It 
was recognized as the ultimate seat of all civil power and 
authority. It alone conferred the " imperium," or right to 
exercise rule over the provincials and the citizens. Legally 
and constitutionally, the Emperor derived his authority from 
the Senate ; and it was always the acknowledgment of the Sen- 
ate, by whatever means obtained, which was regarded as im- 
parting legitimacy to the pretensions of any new aspirant. 
The Senate was, however, prevented from proving any effectual 
check upon the " prince " by the cupidity and timidity which 
prevailed among its members. All the bolder spirits had per- 
ished in the civil wars ; and the senators of Augustus, elevated 
or confirmed in their seats by him, preferred courting his favor 
by adulation to imperilling their position by the display of an 
inconvenient independence. As time went on, and worse Em- 
perors than Augustus filled his place, the conduct which had 
been at first dictated by selfish hopes continued as the result 
of fear. Over the head of everyone who thwarted the imperial 
will impended, like the sword of Damocles, the " lex de maj- 
estate." By degrees the Senate relinquished all its powers, 
or suffered them to become merely nominal ; and the Roman 
" prince " became as absolute a despot as ever was Oriental 
shah or sultan. 

During the principate of Augustus, the " people " continued 
to possess some remnants of their ancient privileges. While 
the Emperor nominated absolutely the consuls and one-half 
of the other magistrates, the tribes elected, from among candi- 
dates whom the Emperor had approved, the remainder. Legis- 
lation followed its old course, and the entire series of " Leges 



400 RAWLINSON 

Julise " enacted under Augustus, received the sanction of both 
the Senate and the Centuries. The judicial rights alone of the 
people were at this time absolutely extinguished, the preroga- 
tive of pardon which the Emperor assumed taking the place 
of the " provocatio ad populum." But the tendency of the 
Empire was, naturally, to infringe more and more on the re- 
maining popular rights; and, though a certain show of elec- 
tion, and a certain title to a share in legislation, were maintained 
by the great assemblies up to the time when the Empire fell, 
yet practically from the reign of Tiberius the people ceased 
to possess any real political power or privilege. 

The political power, of which the Senate and people were 
deprived, could not, in so large an empire as Rome, be all 
exercised by one man. It was necessary that the Emperor 
should either devolve upon his favorites great part of the actual 
work of government, or that he should be assisted in his la- 
borious duties by a regularly constituted Council of State. 
The temper and circumstances of Augustus inclined him to 
adopt the more liberal course ; and hence the institution in his 
time (B.C. 27) of a Privy Council (concilium sccrctitm principis), 
in which all important afifairs of State were debated and legis- 
lative measures were prepared and put into shape. The jeal- 
ousy of his successors allowed this institution to drop out of 
the imperial system, and substituted favorites — the mere creat- 
ures of the prince — for the legally constituted councillors of 
Augustus. 

As it was the object of Augustus to conceal, so far as pos- 
sible, the greatness of the change which his measures effected 
in the government, the magistrates of the Republic were in 
almost every instance maintained, though with powers greatly 
diminished. The State had still its consuls, praetors, quaestors, 
ajdiles, and tribunes ; but these magistracies conveyed dignity 
rather than authority, and were coveted chiefly as distinctions. 
The really important ofifices were certain new ones, which the 
changed condition of affairs rendered necessary ; as especially, 
the " praefecture of the city " {prcofcctura urbis), an office re- 
stored from the old regal times, and the commandership of 
the praetorian guard (prcefectura cohortiiim prcctoriarum), which 
became shortly the second dignity in the State. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 401 

It was, indeed, in the military rather than in the civil insti- 
tutions of the empire, that something like a real check existed 
upon the caprices of arbitrary power, so that misgovernment 
beyond a certain point was rendered dangerous. The security 
of the empire against both external and internal foes required 
the maintenance of a standing army of great magnitude ; and 
the necessity of conciliating the affections, or at least retaining 
the respect, of this armed force imposed limits, that few but 
madmen overstepped, on the imperial liberty of action. Not 
only had the praetorians and their officers to be kept in good- 
humor, but the five-and-twenty or thirty legions upon the 
frontiers — no carpet soldiers, but hardy troops, the real salt 
of the Roman world — had to be favorably impressed, if an 
emperor wished to feel himself securely seated upon his throne. 
This check was the more valuable, as, practically, none other 
existed. It sufficed, during the period with which we are here 
more especially concerned — that from Augustus to Commodus 
— to render good government the rule, and tyranny the com- 
paratively rare exception, only about fifty-seven years out of 
the 223 having been years of suffering and oppression. 

The organization of the army was somewhat complicated. 
The entire military force may be divided under the two heads 
of those troops which preserved order at Rome, and those 
which maintained the terror of the Roman name in the prov- 
inces. The troops of the capital were of two kinds : the prae- 
torians, of whom an account has been given on p. 400, and the 
" city cohorts " (cohortes iirhana), a sort of armed police, whose 
number in the time of Augustus was 6000. The troops main- 
tained in the provinces were likewise of two kinds : those of 
the regular army, or the legionaries, and the irregulars, who 
were called " auxilia," i. e., auxiliaries. The legions consti- 
tuted the main strength of the system. They were " divisions," 
not " regiments." Each of them comprised the three ele- 
ments of a Roman army — horse, foot, and artillery — in certain 
definite proportions, and (in the time of Augustus) numbered 
probably a little under 7000 men. Augustus maintained 
twenty-five legions, who formed thus a military force, armed 
and trained in the best possible way, which did not fall much 
short of 175,000. The auxiliaries, or troops supplied by the 
26 



402 RAWLINSON 

provincials, were about equal in number. Thus the entire 
force maintained in the early empire may be reckoned at 350,- 
000 or 360,000 men. 

The disposition of the legions varied from time to time, but 
only within somewhat narrow limits, the military strength 
of the empire being always massed principally upon the north- 
ern and eastern frontiers, or on the lines of the Rhine, the 
Danube, and the Euphrates, where alone had the Romans at 
this date any formidable foreign enemies. Thirteen or four- 
teen legions usually guarded the northern, or European, fron- 
tier, distributed in nearly equal proportions between the Rhen- 
ish and the Danubian provinces. In the East, from four to 
seven legions sufficed to keep in check the barbarians of Asia. 
Three legions were commonly required by Spain, which al- 
ways cherished hopes of independence. The important prov- 
ince of Egypt required the presence of two legions, and the 
rest of Roman Africa was guarded by an equal number. Two 
legions were also usually stationed in Britain after its conquest. 
The older and more peaceful provinces, as Gallia Narbonensis, 
Sardinia, Sicily, Macedonia, Achaea, Asia, Bithynia, etc., were 
unoccupied by any regular force, order being maintained in 
them by some inconsiderable native levies. 

The financial system of the Empire differed but little from 
that of the later Republic, both the sources of revenue and the 
items of expenditure being, for the most part, identical. Au- 
gustus contented himself, in the main, with simplifying the 
practice which he found established, only in a very few cases 
adding a new impost. The revenue continued to be derived 
from the two great sources of the State property, and taxes ; 
and these last continued to be either Direct, or Indirect. The 
chief expenditure was on the military force, land and naval ; 
on the civil service ; on public works ; and on shows and lar- 
gesses. It is difficult to form an exact estimate of the probable 
amount of these several items ; but, on the whole, it seems 
most likely that the entire annual expenditure must have 
amounted to at least twenty-live milHons of pounds sterling. 

Though it was as a civil administrator that Augustus ob- 
tained his chief reputation, yet much of his attention was also 
given to military affairs, and the wars in which he engaged, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 403 

either in person or by his lieutenants, were numerous and im- 
portant. The complete subjugation of Northern and North- 
western Spain was efifccted, partly by himself, partly by Agrip- 
pa and Carisius, in the space of nine years, from B.C. 27 to 19. 
In B.C. 24, an attempt was made by ^lius Callus to extend 
the dominion of Rome into the spice region of Arabia Felix ; 
but this expedition was unsuccessful. Better fortune attended 
on the efforts of the Emperor's step-sons, Drusus and Tiberius,* 
in the years B.C. 16 and 15, to reduce the independent tribes 
of the Eastern Alps, especially the Rhaetians and Vindelicians. 
Two campaigns sufficed for the complete reduction of the en- 
tire tract between the Lombardo-Venetian plain and the course 
of the Upper Danube, the " fortress of modern freedom." More 
difficulty, however, was experienced in subduing the tribes of 
the Middle and Lower Danube. In Noricum, Pannonia, and 
Moesia, a gallant spirit of independence showed itself; and it 
was only after frequent revolts that the subjugation of these 
tracts was effected (between B.C. 12 and A.D. 9). 

But the most important of all the Roman wars of this period 
was that with the Germans. The rapid conquest of Gaul and 
of the tracts south of the Danube encouraged the Romans to 
hope for similar success against the tribes who dwelt in Cen- 
tral Europe, between the Danube and the Baltic. In a military 
point of view, it would have been a vast gain, could they have 
advanced their frontier to the line of the Vistula and the 
Dniester. Augustus seems to have conceived such a design. 
Accordingly, from about the year B.C. 12, systematic efforts 
were made for the subjugation of the German races east of 
the Rhine and north of the Danube, the Usipetes, Chatti, Si- 
gambri, Suevi, Cherusci, Marcomanni, etc. From the year 
B.C. 12 to A.D. 5, a continuous series of attacks was directed 
against these nations, first by Drusus, and then, after his death 
(B.C. 9), by Tiberius. Vast armies penetrated deep into the 
interior; fleets coasted the northern shore and ascended the 
great rivers to co-operate with the land force ; forts were erect- 
ed ; the Roman language and laws were introduced ; and the 
entire tract between the Rhine and the Elbe was brought into 
apparent subjection. But the real spirit of the nation was 

* Tiberius was also the son-in-law of Augustus, having married 
Julia, the daughter of Augustus. 



404 RAWLINSON 

unsubdued. After a brief period of sullen submission (A.D. 
5 to 8), revolt suddenly broke out (A.D. 9). Arminius, a prince 
of the Cherusci, took the lead. The Romans were attacked, 
three entire legions under Varus destroyed, and German inde- 
pendence recovered. Henceforth, though Rome sometimes, 
in ostentation, or as a measure of precaution, marched her 
armies into the district between the Rhine and the Elbe, yet 
no attempt was made at conquest or permanent occupation. 
The Rhine and Danube became the recognized limits of the 
empire, and, except the Agri Decumates, Rome held no land 
on the right bank of the former river. 

The internal tranquillity of Rome was during the whole of 
Augustus's long reign never once interrupted. Revolutionary 
passions had to a great extent exhausted themselves, and the 
prudence and vigilance of the Emperor never relaxed. The 
arts of peace flourished. Augustus " found Rome of brick and 
left it of marble." He gave a warm encouragement to litera- 
ture, and with such effect that the most brilliant period of each 
nation's literary history is wont to take name from him. Vir- 
gil, Horace, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, Varius, Livy, adorned 
his court, and formed an assemblage of talent never surpassed 
and rarely equalled. Commerce pursued its course securely 
under his rule, and, though a little checked by sumptuary laws, 
became continually more and more profitable. Much attention 
was given to agriculture ; and the productiveness of the land, 
both in Italy and the provinces, increased. Altogether, the 
Augustan age must be regarded as one of much material pros- 
perity, elegance, and refinement ; and it can create no surprise 
that the mass of the population were contented with the new 
rcgiriic. 

The " good-fortune " of Augustus, which the ancients ad- 
mired, was limited to his public, and did not attach to his pri- 
vate life. He suffered greatly from ill health, more especially 
in his earlier years. Though thrice married — to Claudia, to 
Scribonia, and to Livia — he had no son ; and his only daughter, 
Julia, disgraced him by her excesses. His first son-in-law, 
Marcellus, was cut off by sickness in the flower of his age ; 
and his second, Agrippa, died when he was but a little more 
than fifty. Towards his third, Tiberius, he never felt warmly ; 



ANCIENT HISTORY 405 

and it was from necessity rather than choice that he raised him 
to the second place in the empire. It was no doubt among his 
most cherished wishes to have been succeeded by one of his 
own blood ; but of the three sons born to his daughter, Julia, 
the two elder, Caius and Lucius, died just as they reached man- 
hood, the latter in A.D. 2, the former in A.D. 4, while the third, 
Agrippa Posthumus, was of so dull and stolid a temperament, 
that not even the partiality of family afifection could blind the 
Emperor to his unfitness. Deprived thus of all support from 
those of his own race and lineage, Augustus in his old age 
was forced to lean wholly upon his wife and the male scions 
of her family. These were Tiberius, the son, and Germanicus, 
the grandson of Livia, son of the deceased Drusus. When 
the aged Emperor, feeling the approach of death, resolved to 
make distinct arrangements for the succession, his choice fell 
on the former, whom he adopted, and associated with himself 
in some of the most important of the imperial functions. At 
the same time, he required Tiberius to adopt his nephew, Ger- 
manicus, and gave the latter the hand of his own granddaugh- 
ter, Agrippina. Augustus lived to see (A.D, 12) the birth of 
a great-grandson, the issue of this union, and thus left one male 
descendant, who in course of time inherited his crown. 

Augustus died A.D. 14, in the seventy-seventh year of his 
age. There is no reason to believe that his end was hastened 
by Livia, or by any of those about him. His health had long 
been giving way, and, but for the tender care of his attached 
wife, he would probably have died sooner. His place was 
taken, after some coquetry, by Tiberius, with the entire assent 
of the Senate and people of Rome, though not without opposi- 
tion on the part of the army. It is important to observe that, 
even at this early date, the legions had an inkling of their 
strength, and would have proclaimed an emperor, and drawn 
their swords in his cause, had not the object of their choice, 
Germanicus, shrunk from the treason. Tiberius was indebted 
to the generosity of his young kinsman, or to his want of am- 
bition, for his establishment in the imperial dignity without 
a struggle. It is perhaps not surprising that he felt more jeal- 
ousy than gratitude towards one who had been proclaimed his 
rival; but he cannot be exonerated from blame for so mani- 



4o6 RAWLINSON 

festing his jealousy as to make it generally felt that to vex, 
thwart, or injure his nephew was the shortest way to his favor. 

The reign of Tiberius may be conveniently divided into three 
periods : — from his accession to his retirement from the capital 
(A.D. 14 to 26= 12 years); from his retirement to the death 
of Sejanus (A.D. 26 to 31 = 5 years); and from the death 
of Sejanus to his own (A.D. 31 to 37 = 6 years). The main 
events of the first period were the exploits and death of Ger- 
manicus ; the rise of Sejanus to power ; and the death of Dru- 
sus, Tiberius's only son. During three years Germanicus at- 
tempted the re-conquest of Western Germany, and ravaged 
with his legions the entire country between the Rhine and the 
Elbe. But no permanent effect was produced by his incur- 
sions ; and Tiberius, after a while, removed him from the West 
to the East, fearful perhaps of his becoming too dear to the 
German legions. In the management of the East he gave 
him as a coadjutor the ambitious and reckless Piso, w^ho 
sought to bring his administration into contempt, and was 
believed to have removed him by poison. It is perhaps un- 
certain whether Germanicus did not really die a natural death, 
though his own conviction that he was poisoned is indubitable. 

The rise of Sejanus to power is to be connected with the 
general policy of Tiberius as a ruler, which was characterized 
by a curious mixture of suspiciousness with over-confidence. 
Distrusting his own abilities, doubtful of his right to the throne, 
he saw on every side of him possible rivals — aspirants who 
might thrust him from his high place. The noblest and wealth- 
iest of the Patricians, the members and connections of the 
Julian house, and the princes of his own family, were the es- 
pecial objects of his jealousy. These, therefore, he sought 
to depress ; he called none of them to his aid ; he formed of 
them no " Privy Council," as Augustus had done, but resolved 
to administer the entire empire by his own unassisted exer- 
tions. Indefatigable as he was in business, this, after a while, 
he found to be impossible ; and he was thus led to look out 
for a helper, who should be too mean in origin and position 
to be dangerous, while he possessed the qualities which would 
render him useful. Such an one he thought to have found in 
JElius Sejanus, the mere son of a Roman knight, a provincial 



ANCIENT HISTORY 407 

of Vulsinii, whom he made " Praetorian Prefect," and who 
gradually acquired over him the most unbounded influence. 

The death of Drusus was the result of the criminal ambition 
of Sejanus, which nothing could content short of the first place 
in the empire. Having seduced Livilla, the wife of Drusus 
and niece of Tiberius, Sejanus, with her aid, took him off by 
poison (A.D. 23). His crime being undiscovered, he soon 
afterwards (A.D. 25) requested the permission of Tiberius to 
marry the widow. The request took Tiberius by surprise ; 
it opened his eyes to his favorite's ambition, but it did not at 
once destroy his influence. Declining the proposal made to 
him, he allowed his minister to persuade him to quit Rome, 
retire to Capreas, and yield into his hands the entire conduct 
of afifairs at the capital. 

The influence of Sejanus was now at its height, and was 
made use of in two ways — to remove the chief remaining mem- 
bers of the imperial family, and to obtain his own admission 
into it. By lies and intrigues he procured the arrest and im- 
prisonment of Agrippina and her two elder sons, Nero and 
Drusus. By pressing his claims, he obtained at last the con- 
sent of the Emperor to the marriage whereto he aspired, and 
was actually betrothed to Livilla. At the same time, he was 
made joint consul with his master. But at this point his good- 
fortune stopped. In the very act of raising his favorite so high, 
the Emperor had become jealous of him. Signs of his changed 
feelings soon appeared; and Sejanus, anxious to anticipate 
the blow which he felt to be impending, formed a plot to as- 
sassinate his master. Failing, however, to act with due prompt- 
ness, he was betrayed, degraded from his command, seized, 
and executed, A.D. 31. 

It might have been hoped that Tiberius, relieved from the 
influence of his cruel and crafty minister, would have reverted 
to the (comparatively) mild policy of his earlier years. But 
the actual result was the reverse of this. The discovery that 
he had been deceived in the man on whom alone he had re- 
posed confidence, rendered him more suspicious than ever. 
The knowledge, which he now acquired, that his own son had 
been murdered, affrighted him. Henceforth Tiberius became 
a monster of tyranny, because he trusted no one, because he 



4o8 RAWLINSON 

saw in merit of whatever kind at once a reproach and a dan- 
ger. Hence a " Reign of Terror " followed the execution of 
Sejanus. In the fall of the favorite all his friends, all who had 
paid court to him, were implicated ; in the guilt of Livilla, the 
equal guilt of the other relatives of Germanicus was regarded 
as proved. Nero, therefore, Drusus, and Agrippina, as well 
as Livilla, were put to death ; hundreds of nobles, men, women, 
and even children, were massacred. The cruel tyrant, skulking 
in his island abode, issued his bloody decrees, and at the same 
time gave himself up to strange and unnatural forms of profli- 
gacy, seeking in them, perhaps a refuge from remorse. At 
length, when he had reached his seventy-eighth year, his strong 
constitution failed, and he died after a short illness, A.D. 37. 

The political and legal changes belonging to the reign of 
Tiberius were not many in number, but they were of consid- 
erable importance. Among his first acts was the extinction 
of the last vestige of popular liberty, by the withdrawal from 
the " comitia tributa " of all share in the appointment of magis- 
trates. Their right of selection from among the Emperor's 
candidates was transferred to the Senate, and henceforth the 
tribes met merely pro forma, to confirm the choice of that body. 
A second, and still more vital, change was the usurpation by 
the Emperor of the right to condemn to death, and execute 
without trial, all those who were obnoxious to him, or at any 
rate all whom the tribunals had once committed to prison. 
A third innovation was the extension of the " lex de majes- 
tate " to words and even thoughts, and the introduction by 
these means of " constructive treason " into the list of capital 
offences. It is scarcely necessary to observe how these changes 
tended in the direction of despotism, which was still further 
promoted by the establishment of the entire body of praetorian 
guards in a camp immediately outside of Rome, for the sole 
purpose of overawing, and, if need were, coercing the citizens. 

The demise of Tiberius revealed a vital defect in the imperial 
system, viz., the want of any regular and established law of 
succession. Tiberius had associated nobody, had designated 
nobody by his will, had left the State to shift for itself, careless 
whether or no there followed on his decease a deluge. Under 
these circumstances, the Senate, the praetorians, and the people 
might all conceive that the right of appointing an imperator, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 409 

if not even that of determining whether or no any new im- 
perator sliould be appointed, rested with them. A colhsion 
might easily have occurred, but the circumstances were fort- 
unately such as to produce a complete accord between the 
three possible disputants.* Soldiers, Senate, and people united 
in putting aside any glowing dream of the Republic, and in 
calling to the throne Caius, the only surviving son of Ger- 
manicus and Agrippina, whose parentage rendered him uni- 
versally popular, while his age was suitable, and his character, 
so far as it was known, unobjectionable. 

The reign of Caius, or Caligula, as he is generally termed, 
lasted less than four years (from March, A.D. 37, to January, 
A.D. 41), but was long enough to fully display the disastrous 
effects of the possession of arbitrary power on a weak and 
ill-balanced mind. At first mild, generous, and seemingly ami- 
able, he rapidly degenerated into a cruel and fantastic tyrant, 
savage, merciless, and mocking. Dissipating in a few months 
the vast hoards of Tiberius, who had left in the treasury a sum 
exceeding twenty-one millions of our money, he was driven 
to supply his needs, in part by an oppressive taxation, but 
mainly from confiscations of large estates, to procure which 
it was only necessary to make a free use of the law of " maj- 
estas." Executions, suicides, exiles followed each other 
throughout his reign in an unceasing succession, the Emperor 
becoming more and more careless of bloodshed. The most 
wanton extravagance exhausted the resources of the State. 
Not content with the ordinary forms of profligacy, Caius lived 
in open incest with his sister, Drusilla. After his own severe 
illness, and her death (A.D. 38), the violence of his feelings, 
which he had long ceased to control, and the strange contrast, 
which those events brought home to him, between his weakness 
and his strength, his unlimited power over the lives of others, 
and his impotence to avert death, seem to have shattered his 
reason, and to have rendered him actually insane. His self- 
deification, his architectural extravagances, his absurd expe- 
ditions and still wilder projects, which all belong to the latter 
half of his reign, have been justly thought to indicate that his 
mind was actually unhinged. The awful spectacle of a mad- 

* The " three disputants " referred to were Caius, Claudius, and 
Tiberius Semellus. 



4IO RAWLINSON 

man absolute master of the civilized world is here presented to 
us ; and the peril inherent in the despotic form of government 
is shown in the clearest light. The human suffering com- 
pressed into Caligula's short reign can scarcely be calculated. 
What would have been the result, had he been allowed to live 
out his natural term of life? Fortunately for the world, tyr- 
anny, when it reaches a certain point, provokes resistance. 
Caius was struck down in the fourth year of his reign, and 
the thirtieth of his life, by the swords of two of his guards, 
whom he had insulted beyond endurance. 

This sudden blow, whereby the State was left wholly without 
a head, was an event for which the imperial constitution had 
made no provision ; and its occurrence produced a crisis of 
vast importance for its effect on the imperial constitution itself, 
which suffered a modification. Two questions presented them- 
selves to be determined by the course of events : — " Was the 
Empire accidental and temporary, or was it the regular and 
established form of government ? " And " In the latter case, 
with whom did it rest, in case of a sudden vacancy for which 
no preparation had been made, to select a successor ? " The 
all but entire abolition of the Comitia put the claim of the people 
to be heard on either point out of the question: the deter- 
mination necessarily rested with the Senate or the soldiers. 
Had the Senate been sufficiently prompt, it might not improb- 
ably have determined both points in its own favor; it might 
have restored the Republic, or it might have nominated an 
emperor. But it was unprepared; it hesitated; it occupied 
itself with talk; and the opportunity, which it might have 
seized, passed away forever. For the praetorians, accidentally 
finding Claudius in the palace, and aware of the hesitation 
of the Senate, assumed the right of choice, proclaimed him 
emperor, and thereby asserted and established both the fixity 
of the Empire and the right of the army to nominate the im- 
perator. Henceforth for more than half a century the nominees 
of the army wore the crown, and the Senate was content with 
the mere ratification of the army's choice. 

Claudius, who succeeded Caius, was his uncle, being the 
younger brother of Germanicus, and thus, though connected 
with the Julian house, not by birth a member of it. His reign 



ANCIENT HISTORY 411 

lasted between thirteen and fourteen years, from January, A.D. 
41, to October, A.D. 54. Though mild, diligent, and well- 
intentioned, he was by nature and education unfitted to rule, 
more especially in a corrupt commonwealth. Shy, weak, and 
awkward, he had been considered from his birth " wanting," 
had been debarred from public life till he was forty-six years 
of age, and had acquired the temper and habits of a recluse 
student. Left to himself, he might have reigned respectably; 
but it was his misfortune to fall under the influence of persons 
grievously unprincipled, whose characters he was unable to 
read, and who made him their tool and cat's-paw. His wives, 
Messalina and Agrippina, and his freedmen, Pallas and Nar- 
cissus, had the real direction of afifairs during his reign ; and 
it was to them, and not to Claudius himself, that the corruption 
and cruelties which disgraced his principate were owing. The 
death of the infamous Messalina, to which he consented, can- 
not be charged against him as a crime, for it was thoroughly 
merited ; and the sway of Agrippina, though in the end it had 
disastrous effects, was not without counterbalancing advan- 
tages. The princess who recalled Seneca from exile and made 
him her son's tutor, who advanced to power the honest Bur- 
rhus, and protected many an accused noble, cannot be re- 
garded as wholly a malign influence. Her fear of suffering 
the punishment due to her infidelity, and her natural desire 
to see her son upon the throne, led her on at last to crime 
of the deepest dye. She took advantage of her position to 
poison the unhappy Claudius in the sixty-fourth year of his 
age, and the fourteenth of his reign. 

Claudius left behind him a son, Britannicus, who was how- 
ever but thirteen years old at his father's death. The crown, 
therefore, naturally fell to his adopted son, Nero, who had 
married his daughter, Octavia, and who was, moreover, a 
direct descendant of Augustus. Proclaimed by the praetorians 
as soon as the demise of his father-in-law was known, he 
was at once accepted by the Senate, whom the circumstances 
of the elevation of Claudius had made conscious of their 
weakness. The feelings which greeted his accession were 
similar to those called forth on a similar occasion by Caligula. 
Nothing but good could, it was thought, proceed from the 



412 RAWLINSON 

grandson of Germanicus, the comrade of Lucan, the pupil 
of Seneca. Nor were these hopes disappointed for a consid- 
erable time. During the first five years of his principate — 
the famous " quinquennium Neronis " — all went well, at any 
rate, outside the palace ; the " golden age " seemed to have 
returned; Nero forbade delation, remitted taxes, gave liberal 
largesses, made assignments of lands, enriched the treasury 
from his private stores, removed some of the burdens of the 
provincials. During this period Seneca and Burrhus were his 
advisers; and their judicious counsels produced a mild but 
firm government. Within the palace there were, indeed, al- 
ready scandals and crimes : the impatient son and the exacting 
mother soon quarrelled; and the quarrel led to the first of 
Nero's domestic tragedies, the poisoning of Britannicus (A.D. 
55). This was soon followed by the disgrace of the queen- 
mother, who was banished from court and made the object 
of cruel suspicions. The gay prince, passing his time in amuse- 
ments and debaucheries, fell now (A.D. 58) under the influ- 
ence of a fierce and ambitious woman, the infamous Poppaea 
Sabina, wife of Otho, who consented to be his mistress, and 
aspired to become his queen. At her instigation Nero assassi- 
nated first his mother Agrippina (A.D. 59), and then his wife 
Octavia (A.D. 62), whom he had previously repudiated. He 
now plunged into evil courses of all kinds. He murdered 
Burrhus, broke with Seneca, and put himself under the direc- 
tion of a new favorite, Tigellinus, a man of the worst character. 
Henceforth he was altogether a tyrant. Reckless in his ex- 
travagance, he encouraged delation in order to replenish his 
treasury; he oppressed the provincials by imposing on them 
forced contributions, over and above the taxes ; he shocked 
pubUc opinion by performing as a singer and a charioteer be- 
fore his subjects ; he displayed complete indifiference to the 
sufferings of the Romans at the time of the great fire ; he 
openly encouraged prostitution and even worse vices ; and 
he began the cruel practice of persecuting Jews and Christians 
for their opinions, which disgraced the empire from his time 
to that of Constantine. After this tyranny had endured for 
five years, something of a spirit of resistance appeared ; con- 
spiracy ventured to raise its head, but only to be detected and 



ANCIENT HISTORY 413 

struck down (A.D. 65). Fear now made the Emperor more 
cruel than ever. Executions and assassinations followed each 
other in more and more rapid succession. All the rich and 
powerful, all the descendants of Augustus, all those who were 
noted for virtue, lost their lives. At last he grew jealous of his 
own creatures, the legates who commanded legions upon the 
frontiers, and determined on sacrificing them. The valiant 
Corbulo, commander of the forces of the East, was entrapped 
and executed. Rufus and Proculus Scribonius, who had the 
chief authority in the two Germanics, were recalled and forced 
to kill themselves. A similar fate menaced all the chiefs of 
legions, who, on learning their peril, rose in arms against the 
tyrant. Galba and Otho in Spain, Vindex in Gaul, Claudius 
Macer in Africa, Virginius Rufus and Fonteius Capito in Ger- 
many, raised the standard of revolt almost at the same time. 
The multitude of pretenders to empire seemed at first to prom- 
ise ill for the cause of rebellion, and in one case there was actual 
war between the troops of two of them, terminating in the 
death of one (Vindex) ; but after a while, by general agree- 
ment, Galba was chosen to conduct the contest, and, all chance 
of dividing his adversaries being over, the hopes of Nero fell. 
Deserted on all hands, even by Tigellinus and the praetorians, 
he was forced to call on a slave to despatch him, that he might 
not fall alive into the hands of his enemies. Nero died on the 
9th of June, A.D. 68, at the age of thirty, in the fourteenth 
year of his principate. 

Though the law of hereditary succession in the empire had 
at no time been formally established, or even asserted with any 
distinctness under the early Csesars, yet there can be no doubt 
that the extinction of the Julian family by the death of Nero 
paved the way for fresh civil commotions, by practically open- 
ing the prospect of obtaining supreme power to numerous 
claimants. Hitherto the Romans had not in fact looked for an 
imperator beyond the members, actual or adopted, of a single 
house. Henceforth the first place in the State was a prize at 
which anyone might aim, no family ever subsequently obtain- 
ing the same hold on power, or the same prestige in the eyes 
of the Romans as the Julian. 

S. Sulpicius Galba, who became emperor in April, A.D. 68, 



414 RAWLINSON 

by the will of the Spanish legions, and the acquiescence of his 
brother-commanders in Gaul and Germany, was a Roman cast 
in the antique mould — severe, simple, unbending. He was 
thus ill fitted to bear rule in a state so corrupt as Rome had 
come to be ; and the disasters which followed his appointment 
might have been anticipated by anyone possessed of moderate 
foresight. His strictness and his parsimony disgusted at once 
the soldiers and the populace ; and when Otho, who had 
hoped to be nominated his successor, turned against him on 
account of his adopting Piso Licinianus, he found himself with' 
scarcely a friend, and was almost instantly overpowered and 
slain (January 15, A.D. 69). His adopted son, Piso, shared his 
fate ; and the obsequious Senate at once acknowledged Otho 
as Emperor. 

M. Salvius Otho, the husband of the infamous Poppsea 
Sabina, was a dissolute noble, who had run through a long 
course of vice, and who, having exhausted all other excite- 
ments, determined in the spirit of a gambler to play for empire. 
Successful in seizing the throne, he found his right to it dis- 
puted by another of Galba's officers, the commander of tlie 
German legions, Vitellius. Nothing daunted, he resolved to 
appeal to the arbitrament of arms, and to bring matters to an 
issue as soon as possible. When in the great battle of Bedri- 
acum fortune declared against him, he took her at her word, 
gave up the struggle as carelessly as he had begun it, and by 
a prompt suicide made the empire over to his rival. Otho died, 
April 16, A.D. 69, after a reign of barely three months. 

In exchanging the rule of Otho for that of Vitellius, the 
Roman world lost rather than gained. Otho was profligate, 
reckless, sensual ; but he was brave. Vitellius had all Otho's 
vices in excess, and, in addition, was cowardly and vacillating. 
He gained the empire not by his own exertions, but by those 
of his generals, Caecina and Valens. Having gained it, he 
speedily lost it by weakness, laziness, and incapacity. We 
search his character in vain for any redeeming trait : he pos- 
sessed no one of the qualities, moral or mental, which fit a man 
to be a ruler. What was most peculiar in him was his wonder- 
ful gluttony, a feature of his character in which he was unri- 
valled. It is not surprising that the Roman world declined to 



ANCIENT HISTORY 415 

acquiesce long in his rule; for while, morally, he was equally 
detestable with the worst princes of the Julian house, intel- 
lectually he was far their inferior. The standard of revolt was 
raised against him, after he had reigned a few months, by 
Vespasian, commander in Judsea, who was supported by Mu- 
cianus, the president of Syria, and the legions of the East gen- 
erally. The analogy of the previous civil contests would have 
led us to expect the defeat of an aspirant who, with troops de- 
rived from this quarter, assailed the master of the West. But 
Vespasian had advantages at no former time possessed by any 
Oriental pretender. He was infinitely superior, as a general 
and statesman, to his antagonist. He had all the " respecta- 
bility " of the empire in his favor, a general disgust being felt 
at the degrading vices and stupid supineness of Vitellius. 
Above all, he did not depend upon the East solely, but was 
supported also by the legions of the central provinces — Moesia, 
Pannonia, Illyricum — troops as brave and hardy as any in the 
whole empire. Hence his attack was successful. Securing in 
his own person Egypt, the granary of Rome, he sent his gen- 
erals, Antonius Primus and Mucianus, into Italy. The (sec- 
ond) battle of Bedriacum, which was gained by Antonius, in 
fact decided the contest; but it was prolonged for several 
months, chiefly through the obstinacy of the Vitellian soldiery, 
who would not permit their leader to abdicate. In a struggle 
which followed between the two parties inside the city, the 
Capitol was assaulted and taken, the Capitoline temple burnt, 
and Flavins Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, slain. Soon 
afterwards the Flavian army stormed and took Rome, defeated 
and destroyed the Vitellians, and, obtaining possession of the 
Emperor's person, put him to an ignominious death. 

Though Vitellius did not perish till December 21, A.D. 69, 
yet the accession of his successor, T. Flavins Vespasianus, 
was dated from the ist of July, nearly six months earlier. Ves- 
pasian reigned ten years (from A.D. 69 to 79), and did much 
to recover the empire from the state of depression and exhaus- 
tion into which the civil struggles of the two preceding years 
had brought it. By his general, Cerialis, he suppressed the 
revolt of Germany and eastern Gaul, which, under Civilis, Sa- 
binus, and Classicus, had threatened to deprive Rome of some 



1 



4i6 RAWLINSON 



of her most important provinces. By the skill and valor of his 
elder son, Titus, he put down the rebellion of the Jews, and 
destroyed the magnificent city which alone, of all the cities of 
the earth, was, by her beauty and her prestige, a rival to the 
Roman metropolis. The limits of the empire were during his 
reign advanced in Britain from the line of the Dee and Wash, 
to that of the Solway Frith and Tyne, by the generalship of 
Agricola. The finances, which had fallen into complete dis- 
order, were replaced upon a sound footing. The discipline of 
the army, which Otho and Vitellius had greatly relaxed, was 
re-established. Employment was given to the people by the 
construction of great works, as, particularly, the Temple of 
Peace, and the Flavian Amphitheatre or " Coliseum." Edu- 
cation and literature were encouraged by grants of money to 
their professors. The exceptional treatment of the Stoics, who 
were banished from Rome, arose from political motives, and 
was perhaps a state necessity. Altogether, Vespasian must be 
regarded as the best ruler that Rome had had since Augustus 
— a ruler who knew how to combine firmness with leniency, 
economy with liberality, and a generally pacific policy with 
military vigor upon proper occasion. 

Vespasian had taken care before his decease to associate his 
elder son, Titus, in the empire ; and thus the latter was, at his 
father's death, acknowledged without any difficulty as sove- 
reign. His character was mild but weak ; he cared too much 
for popularity; and was so prodigal of the resources of the 
State, that, had his reign been prolonged, he must have had 
recourse to confiscations or exactions in order to replenish an 
empty treasury. Fortunate in his early death, he left behind 
him a character unstained by any worse vice than voluptuous- 
ness. Even the public calamities which marked his reign — 
the great eruption of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed Pompeii 
and Herculaneum, a terrible fire at Rome, and a destructive 
pestilence — detracted but little from the general estimation in 
which he was held, being regarded as judgments, not on the 
prince, but on the nation. Titus held the throne for the short 
term of two years and two months, dying Sept. 13, A.D. 81, 
when he was not quite forty. 

Domitian, the younger brother of Titus, though not asso- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 417 

ciated by him in the empire, had been pointed out by him as 
his successor ; and the incipient right thus conferred met with 
no opposition from either Senate or army. Of a morose and 
jealous temper, he had sorely tried the affection of both his 
father and brother; but they had borne patiently with his 
faults, and done their best to lessen them. It might have been 
hoped that on attaining to a position in which he had no longer 
a rival, he would have become better satisfied, and more genial ; 
but a rooted self-distrust seems to have rendered him morbidly 
suspicious of merit of any kind, while an inward unhappiness 
made him intolerant of other men's pleasures and satisfactions. 
Had he succeeded in gathering real laurels on the banks of the 
Rhine and Danube, the gratification of his self-love would 
probably have improved his temper; but, as it was, his inabil- 
ity to gain any brilliant success in either quarter disappointed 
and still further soured him. Morose and severe by nature, 
as time went on he became cruel ; not content with strictly 
enforcing obsolete laws, he revived the system of accusations, 
condemnations, and forfeitures, which had been discontinued 
since the days of Nero; having decimated the ranks of the 
nobles, and provoked the conspiracy of Saturninus, he became 
still more barbarous through fear ; and, ending by distrusting 
everyone and seeking to strike terror into all, he drew upon 
himself, just as the sixteenth year of his reign had begun, the 
fate which he deserved. He was murdered by the freedmen of 
the palace, whom his latest executions threatened, on the i8th 
of September, A.D. 96. 

The cruelties of Domitian had thrown discredit on the 
hereditary principle, to which, though it had no legal force, his 
elevation to the principate was, in point of fact, due. The Sen- 
ate, which now for the first time since the death of Caligula 
found itself in a position to claim and exercise authority, pro- 
ceeded therefore to elect for sovereign an aged and childless 
man, one whose circumstances rendered it impossible that he 
should seek to impose upon them a dynasty. It is remarkable 
that the praetorians, though they felt aggrieved by the murder 
of Domitian, and demanded the punishment of his assassins, 
made no opposition to the Senate's selection, but tacitly suf- 
fered the Fathers to assume a prerogative which, however it 
27 



4i8 RAWLINSON 

might be viewed as legally inherent in them, they had never 
previously exercised. Perhaps the lesson taught by Otho's fall 
was still in their minds, and they feared lest, if they attempted 
to create an emperor, they might again provoke the hostility 
of the legions. At any rate, the result was that the Senate at 
this juncture increased its power, and by its prompt action ob- 
tained a position and a consideration of which it had been 
deprived for more than a century. 

M. Cocceius Nerva, on whom the choice of the Senate fell, 
was a man of mild and lenient temperament, of fair abilities, 
and of the lax morals common in his day. He was sixty-five 
or seventy years old at his accession, and reigned only one year 
and four months. For the bloody regime of Domitian he sub- 
stituted a government of extreme gentleness ; for his extrava- 
gant expenditure, economy and retrenchment ; for his attempt- 
ed enforcement of antique manners, an almost universal 
tolerance. He relieved poverty by distributions of land, and by 
a poor-law which threw on the State the maintenance of many 
destitute children. He continued the best of Domitian's laws, 
and made some excellent enactments of his own, as especially 
one against delation. When the public tranquillity was threat- 
ened by the violence of the praetorians, who put to death with- 
out trial and without his consent the murderers of Domitian, 
he took the wise step of securing the future of the State by 
publicly appointing, with the sanction of the Senate, a col- 
league and successor, selecting for the ofBce the person who of 
all living Romans appeared to be the fittest, and adopting him 
with the usual ceremonies. The example thus set passed into 
a principle of the government. Henceforth it became recog- 
nized as the duty of each successive emperor to select from out 
of the entire population of the empire the person most fit to 
bear rule, and make him his adopted son and successor. 

M. Ulpius Trajanus, on whom the choice of Nerva had 
fallen, was a provincial Roman, a native of the colony of Italica 
in Spain. His father had been consul and proconsul ; but 
otherwise his family was undistinguished. He himself had 
been bred up in the camp, and had served with distinction un- 
der his father. He had obtained the consulship in A.D. 91, 
under Domitian, and had been commander of the Lower Ger- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



419 



many under both Domitian and Nerva. Readily accepted by 
the Senate, and thoroughly popular with the legions, he as- 
cended the throne under favorable auspices, which the events 
of his reign did not belie. The Romans regarded him as the 
best of all their princes ; and, though tried by a Christian, or 
even a philosophic standard, he was far from being a good man, 
since he was addicted to wine and to low sensual pleasures, yet, 
taking the circumstances of the times into account, we can 
understand his surname of " Optimus." He was brave, la- 
borious, magnanimous, simple and unassuming in his habits, 
afifable in his manners, genial ; he knew how to combine strict- 
ness with leniency, liberality with economy, and devotion to 
business with sociability and cheerfulness. And if we may thus 
consider him, in a qualified sense, " good," we may certainly 
without any reserve pronounce him " great." Both as a gen- 
eral and as an administrator he stands in the front rank of Ro- 
man rulers, equalling Augustus in the one respect, and nearly 
equalling Julius in the other. Though he could not materially 
improve the imperial form of government, which took its color 
wholly from the character of the reigning prince, yet he gave to 
the government while he exercised it the best aspect of which 
it was capable. He sternly suppressed delation, allowed the 
Senate perfect freedom of speech, abstained from all interfer- 
ence in its appointments, and in social converse treated its mem- 
bers as equals. Indefatigable in business, he managed almost 
alone the affairs of his vast empire, carrying on a voluminous 
correspondence with the governors of provinces, and directing 
them how to proceed in all cases, hearing carefully all the ap- 
peals made to him, and sometimes even judging causes in the 
first instance. His administration of the finances was extra- 
ordinarily good. Without increasing taxation, without having 
recourse to confiscations, he contrived to have always so full 
an exchequer, that neither his military expeditions nor his 
great works (which were numerous both in Rome and the 
provinces), nor his measures for the relief of the necessitous 
among his subjects, were ever cramped or stinted for want of 
means. He extended and systematized the irregular poor-law 
of Nerva ; made loans at a low rate of interest to the proprietors 
of encumbered estates ; repaired the ravages of earthquakes and 



420 RAWLINSON 

tempests, founded colonies ; constructed various military roads ; 
bridged the Rhine and Danube ; adorned with works of utility 
and ornament both provincial towns and the capital. He spent 
little upon himself. His column and his triumphal arch may 
be regarded as constructed for his own glory ; but his chief 
works, his great Forum at Rome, his mole at Centumcellae 
(Civita Vecchia), his harbor at Ancona, his roads, his bridges, 
his aqueducts, were for the benefit of his subjects, and justly 
increased the affection wherewith they regarded him. If he 
had any fault as a ruler, it was an undue ambition to extend 
Terminus, and to be known to future ages as a conqueror. 
There were no doubt reasons of policy which led him to make 
his Dacian and Oriental expeditions, but nevertheless they 
were mistakes. The time for conquest was gone by ; and the 
truest wisdom would have been to have rested content with 
the limits which had been fixed by Augustus — the Rhine, the 
Danube, and the Euphrates. Trajan's conquests had for the 
most part to be surrendered immediately after his decease ; and 
the prestige of Rome was more injured by their abandonment 
than it had been advanced by his long series of victories. 

Trajan, on his return from the East, found his health failing. 
He was sixty-five years old, and had overtaxed his constitu- 
tion by the fatigue and exposure which he had undergone in his 
recent campaigns. He had nominated no successor before 
quitting Rome, and it was now of the last importance to supply 
this omission. But regard for the constitutional rights, which 
it had been his policy to recognize in the Senate, induced him 
to postpone the formal act as long as possible, and it is uncer- 
tain whether he did not delay till too late. The alleged adop- 
tion of Hadrian by his predecessor was perhaps a contrivance 
of the Empress, Plotina, after the death of her husband. It 
was, at any rate, secret and informal ; and the new throne was 
consequently unstable. But the judicious conduct of Hadrian 
in the crisis overcame all difficulties ; and his authority was ac- 
knowledged without hesitation both by the army and the Sen- 
ate. 

Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan in A.D. 117, had a reign of 
nearly twenty-one years (from August, A.D. 117, to July, A.D. 
138). He was forty-two years old at his accession, and had 



ANCIENT HISTORY 421 

the advantage (as it was now considered) of being childless. 
Distantly related to Trajan, he had served under him with dis- 
tinction, and had been admitted to an intimacy both with him 
and with the Empress. In many features of his character he 
resembled Trajan. He had the same geniality, the same af- 
fable manners, the same power of uniting liberal and even mag- 
nificent expenditure with thrift and economy, the same moder- 
ation and anxiety to maintain a show of free government. 
Again, like Trajan, he was indefatigable in his attention to 
business, and ready to grapple with an infinite multiplicity of 
details ; he was a friend to literature, and a zealous patron of the 
fine arts ; though lax in his morals, he avoided scandals, and 
never suffered his love of pleasure to interfere with his duties 
as prince. He differed from Trajan, partly, in a certain jeal- 
ousy and irritability of temper, which towards the close of his 
life betrayed him into some lamentable acts of cruelty towards 
those about his person ; but chiefly, in the absence of any desire 
for military glory, and a preference for the arts of peace above 
the triumphs and trophies of successful warfare. Hadrian's 
reign was marked by two extraordinary novelties : first, the 
voluntary relinquishment of large portions of Roman territory 
(Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria), which were evacuated 
immediately after his accession ; and secondly, the continued 
visitation by the Emperor of the various provinces under his 
dominion, and his residence for prolonged periods at several 
provincial capitals. York (Eboracum), Athens, Antioch, 
Alexandria, were in turns honored by the presence of the Em- 
peror and his court. Fifteen or sixteen years out of the twenty- 
one years of his reign were occupied by these provincial prog- 
resses, which he was the first to institute. Hadrian showed 
himself manifestly not the chief of a municipality, but the 
sovereign of an empire. He made no difference between the 
various races which peopled his dominions. With all he as- 
sociated in the most friendly way ; ascertained their wishes ; 
made himself acquainted with their characters ; exerted himself 
to supply their wants. The great works which he loved to 
construct were distributed fairly over the different regions of 
the empire. If Rome could boast his mausoleum, and his 
grand Temple of Rome and Venus, to Tibur belonged his villa, 



422 RAWLINSON 

to Athens his Olympeitim, to Britain and the Rhenish prov- 
inces his great ramparts, to Tarraco his temple of Augustus, 
to Nismes (Nemausus) one of his basihcas, to Alexandria a 
number of his most costly buildings. Hadrian's reign has been 
pronounced with reason " the best of the imperial series." To 
have combined for twenty years unbroken peace with the main- 
tenance of a contented and efficient army ; liberal expenditure 
with a full exchequer, replenished by no oppressive or un- 
worthy means ; a free-speaking Senate with a firm and strong 
monarchy, is no mean glory. Hadrian also deserves praise for 
the choice which he made of a successor. His first selection 
was indeed far from happy. L. Ceionius Verus may not have 
deserved all the hard things which have been said of him ; but 
it seems clear that he was a fop and a voluptuary — one, there- 
fore, from whom the laborious discharge of the onerous duties 
of an emperor could scarcely have been expected. On his 
death, jn A.D. 138, Hadrian at once supplied his place by the 
formal adoption of T. Aurelius Antoninus, a man of eminent 
merit, qualified in all respects to bear rule. He would perhaps 
have done best, had he left to his successor the same power of 
free selection which he had himself exercised; but the ties of 
affection induced him to require Antoninus to adopt as sons his 
own nephew, M. Annius Verus, together with L. Verus, the 
son of his first choice, L. Ceionius (or, after his adoption, L. 
^lius) Verus. 

T. Aurelius Antoninus, the adopted son and successor of 
Hadrian, ascended the throne in July, A.D. 138. He was fifty- 
one years old at this time, and reigned twenty-three years, dy- 
ing A.D. 161, when he had attained the age of seventy-four. It 
has been said that the people is fortunate which has no history ; 
and this was eminently the condition of the Romans under the 
first Antonine. Blameless alike in his public and his private 
life, he maintained the empire in a state of peace and general 
content, which rendered his reign peculiarly uneventful. A 
few troubles upon the frontiers, in Egypt, Dacia, Britain, and 
Mauretania employed the arms of his lieutenants, but gave rise 
to no war of any magnitude. Internally, Antoninus made no 
changes. He continued the liberal policy of his predecessors, 
Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, towards the Senate ; discouraged 



ANCIENT HISTORY 423 

delation ; was generous in gifts and largesses, yet never ex- 
hausted the resources of the treasury ; encouraged learning ; 
erected numerous important buildings ; watched over the whole 
of the empire with a father's care, and made the happiness of his 
subjects his main, if not even his sole, object. Indulgent by 
temperament and conviction, he extended even to the Chris- 
tians the leniency which was a principle of his government, and 
was the first emperor who actively protected them. In his 
domestic life Antoninus was less happy than his virtues de- 
served. His wife, Faustina, was noted for her irregularities; 
his two boys died before his elevation to the throne ; and his 
daughter, Annia Faustina, whom he married to the elder of his 
adopted sons, M. Aurelius, was far from spotless. He enjoyed, 
however, in the affection, the respect, and the growing promise 
of this amiable and excellent prince, some compensation for his 
other domestic troubles. With just discernment, he drew a 
sharp line of distinction between the two sons assigned him by 
Hadrian. Towards the elder, M. Annius (or, after his adop- 
tion, M. Aurelius) Verus, he showed the highest favor, marry- 
ing him to his daughter, associating him in the government, 
and formally appointing him his sole successor. In the younger 
(L. .^lius Verus) he reposed no confidence whatever ; he ad- 
vanced him to no public post ; and gave him no prospect, how- 
ever distant, of the succession. 

M. Aurelius, who took the name of Antoninus after the 
death of his adoptive father, ascended the throne, A.D. 161, at 
the age of forty. He reigned nineteen years, from March, 
A.D. 161, to March, A.D. 180. Although the embodiment of 
the highest Roman virtue — brave, strict, self-denying, la- 
borious, energetic, patient of injuries, affectionate, kind, and in 
mental power not much behind the greatest of previous em- 
perors — he had, nevertheless, a sad and unhappy reign, through 
a concurrence of calamities, for only one of which had he him- 
self to blame. His unworthy colleague, Lucius Verus, was by 
his own sole act associated with him in the empire ; and the 
anxiety and grief which this prince caused him must be regard- 
ed as the consequence of a foolish and undue affection. But his 
domestic troubles — the loose conduct of his wife Faustina, the 
deaths of his eldest son and of a daughter, the evil disposition of 



424 RAWLINSON 

his second son, Commodus — arose from no fault of his own. 
AureHus is taxable with no unfaithfulness to his marriage-bed, 
with no neglect of the health or moral training of his offspring ; 
still less can the great calamities of his reign, the terrible 
plague, and the aggressive attitude assumed by the barbarians 
of the East and North, be ascribed to any negligence or weak- 
ness in the reigning monarch. He met the pretensions of the 
Parthians to exercise sovereignty over Armenia with firmness 
and vigor ; and though here he did not take the field in person, 
yet the success of his generals and lieutenants reflects credit 
upon him. When the barbarians of the North began to show 
themselves formidable, he put himself at the head of the legions, 
and during the space of fourteen years — from A.D. 167 to his 
death in A.D. 180 — occupied himself almost unceasingly in ef- 
forts to check the invaders and secure the frontier against their 
incursions. Successful in many battles against all his enemies, 
he nevertheless failed in the great object of the war, which was 
effectually to repel the Northern nations, and to strike such ter- 
ror into them as to make them desist from their attacks. From 
his reign the barbarians of the North became a perpetual dan- 
ger to Rome — a danger which increased as time went on. But 
the causes of this change of attitude are to be sought — mainly, 
at any rate — not within, but beyond the limits of the Roman 
dominion. A great movement of races had commenced in the 
lands beyond the Danube. Slavonic and Scythic (or Turanian) 
hordes were pressing westward, and more and more cramping 
the Germans in their ancient seats. The Slavs themselves 
were being forced to yield to the advancing Scyths ; and the 
wave of invasion which broke upon the Roman frontier was 
impelled by a rising tide of migration far in its rear, which 
forced it on, and would not allow it to fall back. At the same 
time, a decline was going on in the vigor of the Roman national 
life ; the race was becoming exhausted ; the discipline of the 
legions tended to relax ; long periods of almost unbroken peace, 
like the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, produced a 
military degeneracy ; and by the progress of natural decay the 
empire was becoming less and less capable of resisting attack. 
Under these circumstances, it is creditable to Aurelius that he 
succeeded in maintaining the boundaries of the empire in the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 425 

north, while he advanced them in the east, where once more 
Mesopotamia was made a Roman province, and the hne of de- 
marcation between Rome and Parthia became the Tigris in- 
stead of the Euphrates. 

The eighty-four consecutive years of good government 
which Rome had now enjoyed were due to the practical substi- 
tution for the hereditary principle of the power of nominating 
a successor. This power had been exercised in the most con- 
scientious and patriotic way by four successive rulers, and the 
result had been most beneficial to the community. But the 
four rulers had been all childless, or at any rate had had no male 
offspring ; and thus it had not been necessary for any of them 
to balance a sense of public duty against the feeling of parental 
affection. With M. Aurelius the case was different. Having 
a single dearly-loved son, in some respects promising, he al- 
lowed the tender partiality of the father to prevail over the cold 
prudence of the sovereign ; and, persuading himself that Com- 
modus would prove a tolerable ruler, associated him in the 
government (A.D. 177) at the early age of fifteen. Hence 
Commodus necessarily succeeded him, having begun to reign 
three years before his father's death. Few dispositions would 
have borne this premature removal of restraint and admission 
to uncontrolled authority. Such a trial was peculiarly unfitted 
for the weak character of Commodus. Falling under the in- 
fluence of favorites, this wretched prince degenerated rapidly 
into a cruel, licentious, and avaricious tyrant. He began his 
sole reign (March, A.D. 180) by buying a peace of the Mar- 
comanni and Quadi ; after which he returned to Rome, and took 
no further part in any military expeditions. For about three 
years he reigned decently well, suffering the administration to 
retain the character which Aurelius had given it. But in A.D. 
183, after the discovery of a plot to murder him, in which many 
senators were implicated, he commenced the career of a tyrant. 
Delation thinned the ranks of the Senate, while confiscation 
enriched the treasury. Justice was commonly bought and sold. 
The ministers, Perennis, praetorian prefect, and after him Cle- 
ander, a freedman, were suffered to enrich themselves by every 
nefarious art, and then successively sacrificed, A.D. 186 to 189. 
Passing his time in guilty pleasures and in the diversions of the 



426 RAWLINSON 

amphitheatre, wherein " the Roman Hercules " exhibited him- 
self as a marksman and a gladiator, Commodus cared not how 
the empire was governed, so long as he could amuse himself as 
he pleased, and remove by his warrants all whom he suspected 
or feared. At length, some of those whom he had proscribed 
and was about to sacrifice — Marcia, one of his concubines, Ec- 
lectus, his chamberlain, and Lsetus, prefect of the praetorians — 
learning his intention, anticipated their fate by strangling him 
in his bedroom. Commodus was murdered, A.D. 192, after he 
had reigned twelve years and nine months. 

The disorganization of the empire, which commenced as 
early as Galba, arrested in its natural progress by such wise and 
firm princes as Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two great 
Antonines, made rapid strides under Commodus, who was too 
weak and too conscious of his demerits to venture on repress- 
ing disorders, or punishing those engaged in them. The nu- 
merous desertions, which enabled Maternus to form a band 
that ravaged Spain and Gaul, and gave him hopes of seizing 
the empire, the deputation of 1500 legionaries from Britain, 
which demanded and obtained the downfall of Perennis, and 
the open conflict between the praetorians and the city cohorts 
which preceded the death of Cleander, are indications of mili- 
tary insubordination and of the dissolution of the bonds of 
discipline, such as no former reign discloses to us. It is evi- 
dent that the army, in which lay the last hope of Roman unity 
and greatness, was itself becoming disorganized. No common 
spirit animated its different parts. The city guards, the prae- 
torians, and the legionaries, had different interests. The le- 
gionaries themselves had their own quarrels and jealousies. 
The soldiers were tired of the military life, and, mingling with 
the provincials, engaged in trade or agriculture, or else turned 
themselves into banditti and preyed upon the rest of the com- 
munity. Meanwhile, population was declining, and production 
consequently diminishing, while luxury and extravagance con- 
tinued to prevail among the upper classes, and to exhaust the 
resources of the State. Above all, the general morality was 
continually becoming worse and worse. Despite a few bright 
examples in high places, the tone of society grew everywhere 
more and more corrupt. Purity of life, except among the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



427 



despised Christians, was almost unknown. Patriotism had 
ceased to exist, and was not yet replaced by loyalty. Decline 
and decrepitude showed themselves in almost every portion 
of the body politic, and a general despondency, the result of 
a consciousness of debility, pervaded all classes. Nevertheless, 
under all this apparent weakness was an extraordinary reserve 
of strength. The empire, which under Commodus seemed to 
be tottering to its fall, still stood, and resisted the most terrible 
attacks from without, for the further space of two full cen- 
turies. 

SECOND SECTION. 

From the Death of Commodus to the Accession of Diocletian, 
A.D. 193-284.* 

The special characteristic of the period on which we now 
enter is military tyranny — the usurpation of supreme power 
by the soldiers, who had at last discovered their strength, and 
nominated or removed emperors at their pleasure. Constant 
disquiet and disturbance was the result of this unhappy dis- 
covery — twenty-five emperors wore the purple in the space 
of ninety-two years, their reigns thus averaging less than four 
years apiece. Two reigns only during the entire period — those 
of the two Severi — exceeded ten years. Deducting these, the 

* Sources. Authors: Dio Cassius, as reported in the work of Xiphi- 
linus (Lib. Ixiii.-lxxx.), is still our most trustworthy guide for the gen- 
eral history; but this fragmentary production must be supplemented 
from Herodian (see p. 552), and from the " Historios Augustas Scrip- 
tores," as well as from the epitomists, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, and 
Sextus Rufus. The works of these last-named writers cover the entire 
space, whereas Dio's history stops short at his consulate, A.D. 229, and 
Herodian's terminates at the accession of the third Gordian, A.D. 238. 
Zosimus (" Historiae novas libri sex; " ed. Bekker, in the " Corpus Hist. 
Byz." Bonnse, 1837); and Zonaras ("Annales;" ed. Finder, in the 
same series. Bonnae, 1841), are also occasionally serviceable. From 
A.D. 226 the history of Agathias (ed. Niebuhr. Bonn, 1828) is of im- 
portance. To these various authors may be added the Fragments of 
Dexippus, whereof there are several collections. The best, probably, 
is that in the " Fragmenta Historicorum Grsecorum " of C. Miiller 
(Paris, 1841-9; vol. iii., pp. 666-687). Coins and medals, valuable for 
the preceding period, are still more useful for this. ■ 



428 RAWLINSON 

average for a reign is reduced to two years. It was of course 
impossible under these circumstances that any renovation of 
the empire or restoration of pristine vigor should be efifected. 
The internal administration was indeed scarcely a subject of 
attention. Each emperor was fully occupied by the necessity 
of maintaining his own power against rival pretenders, gen- 
erally with as good claims as his own, and resisting the attacks 
of the barbarians, who were continually increasing in strength 
and audacity. The few good princes who held the throne 
exerted themselves mainly to strengthen and invigorate the 
army by the re-establishment and strict enforcement of disci- 
pline. Reform in this quarter was sadly needed; but to ac- 
complish it was most difficult. A strict emperor usually fell 
a victim to his reforming zeal, which rapidly alienated the 
affections of the soldiers. 

The assassins of Commodus, having efifected their purpose, 
acted with decision and promptness. Lsetus and Eclectus pro- 
ceeded to the house of Pertinax, prefect of the city, revealed 
their deed, and offered him the crown. With a reluctance 
which may well have been unfeigned, this aged senator, a man 
of experience in business, and of unblemished character, one 
of the few remaining friends of M. Aurelius, signified his con- 
sent. Influenced by Lsetus, the praetorians consented some- 
what sullenly to accept him ; the Senate, surprised and over- 
joyed, hailed the new reign with acclamations. But the 
difficulties of Pertinax began when his authority was acknowl- 
edged. An empty treasury required economy and retrench- 
ment, while a greedy soldiery and a demoralized people 
clamored for shows and for a donative. The donative, which 
had been promised, was paid ; but this necessitated a still stricter 
curtailment of other expenses. The courtiers and the citizens 
grumbled at a frugality to which they were unaccustomed ; 
the soldiers dreaded lest a virtuous prince should enforce on 
them the restraints of discipline ; the " king-maker," Laetus, 
was disappointed that the ruler whom he had set up would 
not consent to be a mere puppet. Within three months of 
his acceptance of power, Pertinax found himself almost with- 
out a friend ; and when the praetorians, instigated by Laetus, 
broke out in open mutiny, he unresistingly succumbed, and 
was despatched by their swords. 



ANCIENT HISTORY . 429 

The praetorians, who had murdered Pertinax, are said to 
have set up the office of emperor to pubHc auction, and to 
have sold it to M. Didius Julianus, a rich senator, once gov- 
ernor of Dalmatia, whose elevation cost him more than three 
millions of our money.* Julianus was acknowledged by the 
Senate, and reigned at Rome for rather more than two months ; 
but his authority was never established over the provinces. In 
three different quarters — in Britain, in Pannonia, and in Syria 
— the legions, on learning the death of Pertinax and the scan- 
dalous circumstances of Julianus's appointment, invested their 
leaders, Albinus, Severus, and Niger, with the purple, and 
declared against the choice of the praetorians. Of the three 
pretenders, Severus was at once the most energetic and the 
nearest Rome. Taking advantage of his position, he rapidly 
led his army across the Alps, advanced through Italy upon 
the capital, seduced the praetorians by his emissaries, and was 
accepted by the Senate as emperor. The luckless Julianus was 
deposed, condemned to death, and executed. 

The first act of Severus on obtaining the empire was to 
disarm and disband the existing praetorians, who were for- 
bidden to reside thenceforth within a hundred miles of the 
capital. He then addressed himself to the contest with his 
rivals. First temporizing with Albinus, the commander in 
Britain, whom he promised to make his successor, he led his 
whole force against the Eastern emperor, Pescennius Niger, 
defeated his troops in two great battles, at Cyzicus and Issus, 
captured him, and put him to death. He then declared openly 
against Albinus, who advanced into Gaul and tried the fortune 
of war in an engagement near Lyons, where he too suffered 
defeat and was slain. Severus was now master of the whole 
empire, and might safely have shown mercy to the partisans 
of his rivals, against whom he had no just grounds of com- 
plaint. But he was of a stern and cruel temper. Forty-one 
senators and great numbers of the rich provincials were exe- 
cuted for the crime of opposing him ; and his government 
was established on a more tyrannical footing than any former 
emperor had ventured on. The Senate was deprived of even 
the show of power, and openly oppressed and insulted. The 
empire became a complete military despotism. In lieu of the 
* English money. 



430 RAWLINSON 

old praetorians, a body of 40,000 troops, selected from the 
legionaries, formed the garrison of Rome, and acted as the 
Emperor's body-guard. Their chief, the praetorian prefect 
(Prccf edits prcctorio), became the second person in the king- 
dom, and a dangerous rival to the sovereign. Not only the 
command of the guards, but legislative and judicial power, 
and especially the control of the finances, were intrusted to 
him. Severus attempted, but without much effect, to improve 
the general discipline of the legionaries ; he also showed him- 
self an active and good commander. His expedition against 
the Parthians (A.D. 197-8) was, on the whole, remarkably 
prosperous, the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, falling into his 
hands, and Adiabene being made a dependency. In Britain 
his arms had no such decisive success ; but still he chastised 
the Caledonians, A.D. 208-9, ^"^ extended the limits of the 
empire in this quarter. His later years were saddened by the 
unconcealed enmity of his two sons, who were scarcely re- 
strained, by their common dependence upon their father, from 
an open and deadly quarrel. Determined that neither should 
be left at the mercy of the other, he associated both in the 
empire, and recommended both to the army as his successors. 
He died at York, A.D. 211, at the age of sixty-five, having 
reigned eighteen years. 

The two sons of Severus, Caracallus (wrongly called Cara- 
calla) and Geta, reigned conjointly for the space of a single 
year, mutually hating and suspecting one another. At the 
end of that time, after a fruitless attempt had been made to 
settle their quarrel by a division of the empire, Caracallus, 
under pretence of a reconciliation, met his brother Geta in 
the apartments of the Empress-mother, Julia Domna, and 
there had him murdered in her arms (Feb. A.D. 212). After 
this he reigned for five years alone, showing himself a most 
execrable tyrant. Twenty thousand persons were put to death 
under the vague title of " friends of Geta ; " among them a 
daughter of M. Aurelius, a son of Pertinax, a nephew of Com- 
modus, and the great jurist Papinian. Caracallus then, made 
restless by his guilty conscience, quitted Rome never to return, 
and commenced a series of aimless wanderings through the 
provinces. He visited Gaul, Rhaetia, Dacia, Thrace, Asia Mi- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



431 



nor, Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, everywhere marking his 
track with blood, and grievously oppressing the provincials. 
Knowing himself to be generally hated, he endeavored to 
secure the affections of the soldiers by combining excessive 
rewards for service with very remiss discipline, thus doubly 
injuring the empire. The vigor of the army melted away under 
his lax rule; and the resources of the State were exhausted 
by his ruinous profuseness, which led him to devise new and 
ingenious modes of increasing taxation. It may have been also 
his desire to gratify his army which induced him to plunge 
into his great war. In the West he had engaged in no hostilities 
of importance, having merely when in Gaul made an insignifi- 
cant expedition against the Alemanni, A.D. 214; but after 
he had transferred his residence to the East, he determined on 
an attempt to conquer Parthia. Fixing his head-quarters at 
Edessa in Mesopotamia, he proceeded to tread in his father's 
footsteps, crossed the Tigris, took Arbela, and drove the Par- 
thians to seek refuge in the mountains, A.D. 216. Another 
campaign would have followed ; but, before it could begin, 
Caracallus was murdered by the praetorian prefect Macrinus, 
who knew his own life to be in danger. 

Macrinus, proclaimed emperor after some hesitation by the 
soldiers, and acknowledged by the Senate, began his reign 
by attempts to undo the evil policy of Caracallus, the ruinous 
eflfects of which were manifest. He withdrew at once from the 
Parthian war, which threatened to be tedious and expensive, 
consenting to purchase peace of the enemy. Not venturing 
to interfere with the rewards of the existing soldiery, he en- 
listed recruits upon lower terms. He diminished the burdens 
of the citizens by restoring the " succession-tax " to its old 
rate of five per cent. These proceedings were no doubt salu- 
tary, and popular with the mass of his subjects ; but they were 
disagreeable to the army, and the army was now the real de- 
pository of supreme power. Hence Macrinus, like Pertinax, 
soon fell a victim to his reforming zeal. The disaffection of 
the soldiers was artfully fomented by Maesa, sister of Julia 
Domna, the late empress, who induced them to raise to the 
throne her grandson Avitus, or Bassianus, then high-priest 
of Elagabalus, in the great temple at Emesa (Hems), whom 



432 RAWLINSON 

she declared to be a son of Caracallus. Macrinus did not yield 
without a struggle ; but, quitting the field while the battle was 
still doubtful, he ruined his own cause by his cowardice. Pur- 
sued by the soldiers of his rival, he was captured at Chalcedon, 
brought back to Antioch, and put to death. His son, Diadu- 
menus, on whom he had conferred the title of Csesar, shared 
his fate. 

Avitus, or Bassianus, on his accession to the throne, took 
the name of M. Aurelius Antoninus, and assumed as an un- 
doubted fact his descent from Severus and Caracallus. The 
name of " Elagabalus," by which he is generally known, was 
perhaps also used by himself occasionally, though it is not 
found upon his coins. His reign, which lasted four years only, 
is, though not the most bloody, yet beyond a doubt the most 
disgraceful and disgusting in the Roman annals. Elagabalus 
was the most effeminate and dissolute of mortals. He openly 
paraded his addiction to the lowest form of sensual vice. The 
contemptible companions of his guilty pleasures were advanced 
by him to the most important offices of the State. Syrian 
orgies replaced the grave and decent ceremonies of the Roman 
religion. A vestal virgin, torn from her sacred seclusion, was 
forced to be one of his wives. It is astonishing that the Ro- 
mans, degenerate as they were, could endure for nearly four 
years the rule of a foreign boy, who possessed no talent of 
any kind, and whose whole life was passed in feasting, rioting, 
and the most infamous species of debauchery. Yet we do not 
find that his gross vices provoked any popular outburst. It 
was not till he threatened the life of his cousin, Alexander 
Severus, whom he had been prevailed upon to make " Csesar," 
that opposition to his rule appeared, and then it came from the 
praetorians. These " king-makers " had, it seems, conceived 
a certain disgust of the effeminate monarch, who painted his 
face and wore the attire of a woman; and they had become 
attached to the virtuous Alexander. When, therefore, they 
found that of the two one must be sacrificed, they mutinied, 
slew Elagabalus, and placed his cousin upon the throne. 

In Alexander Severus, who succeeded his cousin, A.D. 222, 
we come upon an emperor of a different type. Carefully edu- 
cated by his mother, Mammaea, the younger daughter of Maesa, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 433 

he presents the remarkable spectacle of a prince of pure and 
blameless morals cast upon a corrupt age, striving, so far as 
his powers went, to reform the degenerate State, and falling 
at length a victim to his praiseworthy but somewhat feeble 
efforts. It is perhaps doubtful whether at this time any degree 
of ability could have checked ef^fectually the downward prog- 
ress of the empire, and arrested the decay that was leading on 
to absolute ruin. But Alexander, at any rate, did not possess 
such ability — like his cousin, he was a Syrian, and the taint 
of weakness was in his blood. However well-intentioned we 
may consider him to have been, there can be no doubt that 
he was deficient in vigor of mind, in self-assertion, and in the 
powers generally which make the firm and good sovereign. 
He allowed his mother to rule him throughout his whole reign. 
He shrank from grappling with the mutinous spirit of the 
army, and from those stern and bold measures which could 
alone have quelled insubordination. Hence his reign, though 
its tendency was towards good, failed permanently to benefit 
the empire, and can only be regarded as a lull in the storm, 
a deceitful calm, ushering in a more furious burst of the tem- 
pest. It was in vain that Alexander by his simple life set a pat- 
tern of frugality ; that, by re-establishing the Council of State, 
he sought to impose limits on his own power; that by defer- 
ence to the Senate he endeavored to raise it in public esteem, 
and to infuse into it a feeling of self-respect ; that by his inti- 
macy with learned and literary men, he aimed at elevating the 
gown above the sword. He had not the strength of character 
to leave his mark upon the world. His attempts at reform 
failed or died with him. Military license asserted itself the 
more determinedly for his efforts to repress it, forcing Dio 
into retirement, and taking the life of Ulpian. Constant mu- 
tinies disgraced his reign, and at length, in the German war, 
the soldiers, despising his military incapacity, drew their 
swords against the Emperor himself, and murdered him, to- 
gether with his mother. 

The mutinous soldiers who murdered Severus had acted 

at the instigation of an officer named Maximin, and this man 

they at once proclaimed emperor. He was by birth a Thra- 

cian peasant, and, though he must have shown considerable 

28 



434 



RAWLINSON 



ability to have obtained the command of a legion, yet he still 
remained rude and coarse, fierce and brutal, more than half 
a savage. The cruelties of Maximin, directed against all the 
noble and wealthy, and still more his constant extortions, soon 
made him generally detested ; and the tyranny of one of his 
creatures in " Africa " produced a revolt against him in his 
fourth year — A.D. 238. The people of the province rose up, 
and made Gordian, their proconsul, together with his son, 
emperors. With a boldness that nothing but utter despair 
could have prompted, the Senate ratified their choice. Hear- 
ing this, Maximin, who was in winter-quarters at Sirmium 
on the Danubian frontier, immediately commenced his march 
towards Italy, hoping to crush his enemies by his promptness. 
His original rivals, the first and second Gordian, gave him no 
trouble, being put down by Capellianus, governor of Maure- 
tania, little more than a month after their rebellion. But the 
Senate, with unwonted energy, supplied their place by two of 
their own body, Pupienus and Balbinus, and undertook the 
defence of Italy against Maximin. They garrisoned the towns, 
laid waste the country, and prepared to weary out the army 
which they could not venture to meet. The plan succeeded. 
Maximin, stopped by the resistance of Aquileia, and growing 
daily more savage on account of his want of success, became 
hateful to his own soldiers, who rose up against him and slew 
him, with his son, in his tent. Maximin was killed, probably, 
in the early part of May, A.D. 238. 

The triumph of the Senate, which seemed assured by the 
murder of Maximin, was regarded by the soldiers as fatal to 
their pretensions ; and they soon came to a resolution that the 
Senatorian emperors should not remain at the head of affairs. 
Already, before the death of Maximin, they had asserted their 
right to have a voice in the nomination of the supreme author- 
ity, and had forced Balbinus and Pupienus to accept at their 
bidding a third Gordian, grandson and nephew of the former 
princes of the name, as Csesar. On the downfall of Maximin, 
and the full establishment of Pupienus and Balbinus as em- 
perors, they thought it necessary for their interests to advance 
a step farther. The Senate's nominees were not to be tolerated 
on any terms ; and within six weeks of their triumph over 



ANCIENT HISTORY 435 

Maximin the prcCtorians murdered them, and made the third 
Gordian sole emperor. 

This unfortunate youth, who at the age of thirteen was ele- 
vated to the position of supreme ruler over the entire Roman 
world, continued to occupy the throne for the space of six 
years, A.D. 238 to 244, but cannot be said to have exercised 
any real authority over the empire. At first, he was the mere 
tool of the eunuchs of the palace ; after which he fell under 
the influence of Timesicles, or Timesitheus, whose daughter 
he married, and who held the office of praetorian prefect. Time- 
sitheus was an able minister; and the reign of Gordian was 
not unprosperous. He maintained the Roman frontier intact 
against the attacks of the Persians, A.D. 242, and suppressed 
an insurrection in Africa, A.D. 240. On his return from the 
Persian war he was murdered near Circesium by Philip " the 
Arabian," who had succeeded Timesitheus in the command 
of the guard. 

M. Julius Philippus, of Bostra in Arabia (probably a Roman 
colonist), who was made emperor by the soldiers after they 
had killed the young Gordian, had a reign of five years only, 
from A.D. 244 to 249. He concluded a peace with the Persians 
on tolerable terms, A.D. 244, celebrated the senelar games in 
commemoration of the thousandth year from the founding of 
the city, A.D. 248, and defeated the Carpi on the middle Dan- 
ube, A.D. 245. The notices which we possess of his reign are 
brief and confused, but sufficiently indicate the growing dis- 
organization of the Empire. Discontented with their governor, 
Priscus, Philip's brother, the Syrians revolted, and set up a 
rival emperor, named Jotapianus. About the same time, the 
troops in Moesia and Pannonia, from hatred of their officers,' 
mutinied, and invested with the purple a certain Marinus. 
These two mock emperors lost their lives shortly ; but the 
Moesian and Pannonian legions continuing disaffected, Philip 
sent a senator named Decius to bring them under. The rebels, 
however, placed Decius at their head, marched on Italy, and 
defeated and slew Philip at Verona, September, A.D, 249. 

Decius, made emperor against his will by the Moesian and 
Pannonian legions, was gladly accepted by the Senate, which 
was pleased to see the throne again occupied by one of its ov/n 



436 RAVVLINSON 

number. His short reign of two years only is chiefly remark- 
able for the first appearance of a new and formidable enemy — 
the Goths — who invaded the empire in vast force, A.D. 250, 
traversed Dacia, crossed the Danube, spread devastation over 
Moesia, and even passed the Balkan and burst into Thrace. 
Decius, unsuccessful in A.D. 250, endeavored in the following 
year to retrieve his ill-fortune, by destroying the Gothic host 
on its retreat. He was defeated, however, in a great battle near 
Forum Trebonii, in Moesia, and, together with his eldest son, 
whom he had associated in the empire, lost his life. 

Under these unhappy circumstances, the Senate was allowed 
to regulate the succession to the empire ; which was determined 
in favor of Gallus, one of the generals of Decius, and of Decius's 
young son, Hostilianus. Volusianus, the son of Gallus, was 
also associated in the imperial dignity. The real authority 
rested, however, with Gallus, whose age and experience placed 
him far above his colleagues. He commenced his reign by 
purchasing a peace from the Goths, to whom he consented to 
pay an annual tribute, on condition of their respecting the 
Roman frontier, A.D. 252. He then returned to Rome, where 
he rapidly became unpopular, partly because of the disgraceful 
peace which he had made, partly on account of his inertness 
amid the fresh calamities which afflicted the unhappy State. 
Pestilence raged in Rome, and over most of the empire ; while 
fresh hordes of barbarians, incited by the success of the Goths, 
poured across the Danube, ^milianus, governor of Pannonia 
and Moesia, having met and defeated these marauders, was 
proclaimed emperor by his army, and, marching upon Rome, 
easily established his authority. Gallus and his son (Hostilian 
had died of the plague) led out an army against him, but were 
slain by their own soldiers at Interkmna on the Nar, near 
Spoletium. ^milian was then acknowledged by the Senate. 

The destruction of Gallus and Volusianus was soon avenged. 
Licinius Valerianus, a Roman of unblemished character, whom 
Decius had wished to invest with the office of censor, and 
whom Gallus had sent to bring to his aid the legions of Gaul 
and Germany, arrived in Italy soon after the accession of 
.i^milian, and resolved to dispute his title to the crown. The 
opposing armies once more met near Spoletium, and, by a just 



ANCIENT HISTORY 437 

retribution, ^milian suffered the fate of his predecessors, 
three months after he had ascended the throne. 

The calamities of the empire went on continually increasing. 
On the Lower Rhine there had been formed a confederacy of 
several German tribes, the Chauci, Cherusci, Chatti, and others, 
which, under the name of Franks (i. e.. Freemen), became one 
of Rome's most formidable enemies. South of these, the Ale- 
manni, in the tract between the Lahn and Switzerland, had 
broken through the Roman rampart, absorbed the Agri Decu- 
mates, together with a portion of Vindelicia, and assumed from 
this position an aggressive attitude, threatening not only Gaul 
but Rhaetia, and even Italy. On the Lower Danube and on 
the shores of the Euxine, the Goths, who had now taken to 
the sea, menaced with their numerous fleets Thrace, Pontus, 
Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. Finally, in the remote 
East, Persia, under its new monarchs, the Sassanidae, was grow- 
ing in strength, and extending itself at the expense of Rome 
towards the north-west. Valerian, already sixty years of age 
at his accession, felt his inability to grapple with these various 
dangers, and associated, in his second year, A.D. 254, his son 
Gallienus in the empire. But the young prince was no more 
equal to the occasion than his aged father. The entire joint 
reign of Valerian and his son (A.D. 254 to 260), as well as 
the succeeding sole reign of the latter (A.D. 260 to 268), was 
one uninterrupted series of disorders and disasters. The Franks 
harried Gaul and Spain at their will, and even passed into 
Africa. The Alemanni crossed the Rhsetian Alps, invaded 
Italy, and advanced as far on the way to Rome as Ravenna. 
The Goths occupied Dacia, and, issuing with their fleets from 
the Cimmerian Bosphorus, ravaged Northern and Western 
Asia Minor, destroyed Pityus, Trebizond, Chalcedon, Nico- 
media, Nicsea, Prusa, Cius, Cyzicus, and Ephesus, overran 
Greece, took Athens and Corinth, and carried off an immense 
booty into the regions beyond the Danube. The Persians, 
tmder Sapor, conquered Armenia, invaded Mesopotamia, de- 
feated Valerian and took him prisoner near Edessa, advanced 
into Syria, surprised and burnt Antioch, took Tarsus and Cae- 
sarea Mazaca, and returned triumphant into their own country. 
At the same time, and in consequence of the general disor- 



438 RAWLINSON 

ganization which these various invasions produced, numerous 
independent sovereigns started up in different parts of the 
Roman empire, as Odenathus in the East, who reigned at Pal- 
myra over Syria and the adjacent countries, Posthumus and 
Victorinus in Gaul, Celsus in Africa, Ingenuus and Aureolus in 
Illyria, Macrianus in Asia Minor, Piso in Thessaly, ^milianus 
in Egypt, etc. These sovereigns — known as the " Thirty Ty- 
rants " — had for the most part brief and inglorious reigns ; and 
their kingdoms were generally as short-lived as themselves. 
In two quarters, however, a tendency to a permanent splitting- 
up of the empire was exhibited. The kingdom of Odenathus 
passed from that prince to his widow Zenobia, and lasted for 
ten years — from A.D. 264 to 273. The Gallic monarchy of 
Posthumus showed still greater vitality, continuing for seven- 
teen years, under four successive princes, Posthumus, Vic- 
torinus, Marius, and Tetricus. Gallienus, quite incapable of 
grappling with the terrible difficulties of the time, aimed at 
little more than maintaining his authority in Italy. Even there, 
however, he was attacked by Aureolus ; and in the war which 
followed, his own soldiers slew him as he lay before Milan, into 
which Aureolus had thrown himself, A.D. 268. 

From the state of extreme weakness and disorganization 
which Rome had now reached, a state which seemed to portend 
her almost immediate dissolution, she was raised by a succes- 
sion of able emperors, who, although their reigns were unhap- 
pily short, contrived at once to reunite the fragments into which 
the empire had begun to split, and to maintain for the most 
part the integrity of the frontiers against the barbarians. 
Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, and Cams — five warlike 
princes — reigned from A.D. 268 to 283, and in this space of 
fifteen years, the progress that was made towards a recovery 
of the power and prestige of Rome is most remarkable. M. 
Aurelius Claudius, the successor of Gallienus, who reigned 
from A.D. 268 to 270, gained a great victory over the Alemanni 
in Northern Italy in A.D. 268, and another over the Goths at 
Nissa in Moesia, A.D. 269. His successor, L. Domitius Aure- 
lianus, routed an army of Goths in Pannonia, A.D. 270, and 
effectually checked the Alemanni in North Italy. Bent on 
reuniting the fragments of the empire, he undertook a war 



ANCIENT HISTORY 439 

against Zenobia, A.D. 2'j2, and brought it to a happy conclu- 
sion the year after. He then turned his arms against the great 
Western kingdom of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, which was held 
by Tetricus, and succeeded in re-establishing the authority of 
Rome over those regions, A.D. 274. He was about to proceed 
against the Persians, A.D. 275, when he fell a victim to the 
malice of his private secretary, Eros (or Mnestheus), whose 
misconduct he had threatened to punish. 

The military glories of Aurelian's reign have thrown into 
some obscurity his prudential measures ; yet to these Rome 
probably owed as much. He finally relinquished to the Goths 
and Vandals the outlying province of Dacia, which had proved 
from the time of its occupation by Trajan nothing but an in- 
cumbrance to the empire. The Roman inhabitants were re- 
moved across the Danube into Mcesia, a part of which was 
henceforth known as " Dacia Aureliani." Aurelian also forti- 
fied the capital anew, thus securing it from a coup de main, 
which the incursions of the Alemanni had shown to be a real 
danger. His walls, which were restored by Honorius, con- 
tinue, with some small exceptions, to be those of the modern 
city. 

The assassination of Aurelian was displeasing to the army 
which he commanded ; and the soldiers, instead of allowing 
any of their officers to assume the purple, applied to the Sen- 
ate to appoint a new emperor. The Senate hesitated ; but, af- 
ter an interval of six months, complied with the request, and 
elected M. Claudius Tacitus, one of their body. A pleasing 
dream was entertained for a few weeks of restoring something 
like the old Republic ; but the illusion soon vanished. Tacitus 
was called away from Rome by an irruption of the Alani into 
Asia Minor, and there perished, six or seven months after his 
accession, either from weakness or through military violence. 

On learning the death of Tacitus, Florian, his brother, as- 
sumed the imperial dignity at Rome, while the army of the East 
raised to the purple their general, M. Aurelius Probus. A 
bloody contest for the empire seemed impending; but it was 
prevented by the lukewarmness of Florian's soldiers in his 
cause. Sacrificing their leader, who survived his brother little 
more than three months, they passed over to his rival, who 



440 RAWLINSON 

thus became undisputed emperor. Probus was a warlike, and 
at the same time a careful and prudent prince, anxious to bene- 
fit his subjects, not merely by military expeditions, but by the 
arts of peace. He delivered Gaul from the German hordes 
which infested it, and carried the Roman arms once more be- 
yond the Rhine to the banks of the Neckar and the Elbe. The 
" Agri Decumates " became again a portion of the empire, and 
the rampart of Hadrian was restored and strengthened. On 
the Danube Probus chastised the Sarmatians, and by the mere 
terror of his arms induced the Goths to sue for peace. In Asia 
Minor he recovered Isauria, which had fallen into the hands of 
robbers. In Africa he pacified Egypt. The court of Persia 
sought his alliance. The troubles raised by the pretenders, 
Saturninus in the East, and Proculus and Bonosus in the West, 
he suppressed without any difficulty. Among his plans for 
recruiting the strength of the empire two are specially notice- 
able — the settlement in most of the frontier provinces of large 
bodies of captured or fugitive barbarians, Franks, Vandals, Bas- 
tarnse, Gepidae, etc., and the improvement of agriculture by the 
drainage of marshy tracts and the planting of suitable localities 
with the grape. The first of these plans was attended with a 
good deal of success ; the second unfortunately provoked an 
outbreak which cost Probus his life. He had ventured to em- 
ploy his soldiers in agricultural labors, which were distasteful 
to them, and perhaps injurious to their health. On this ac- 
count they mutinied, seized their arms, and, in a moment of 
passion, stained their hands with his blood. Probus died, A.D. 
282, after a reign of six years and six months. 

After murdering Probus, the soldiers conferred the purple on 
M. Aurelius Carus, prefect of the praetorians, who proclaimed 
his two sons, Carinus and Numerianus, " Csesars," and associ- 
ated the elder, Carinus, in the cares of empire. Leaving this 
prince to conduct afifairs in the West, Carus proceeded at the 
head of a large army to lUyricum, where he inflicted a severe 
defeat on the Sarmatians, killing 16,000, and taking 20,000 pris- 
oners ; after which he proceeded to Persia, where he carried all 
before him, overrunning Mesopotamia, and taking Seleucia 
and Ctesiphon. The complete conquest of Persia was antici- 
pated ; but the sudden death of the Emperor — whom different 



ANCIENT HISTORY 441 

authors report to have been murdered, to have died of disease, 
and to have been killed by lightning — put a stop to the expedi- 
tion, and saved the kingdom of the Sassanidae. Carus died, 
A.D. 283, after he had reigned a little more than a year. On 
his death, his son Numerianus was acknowledged as emperor. 

The year following, A.D. 284, saw the death of Numerianus, 
who was murdered at Perinthus by his father-in-law, the prae- 
torian prefect, Arrius Aper. Carinus still ruled in the West ; 
but the army of the East, discovering the death of Numerianus, 
which was concealed, set up a rival emperor in the person of 
Diocletian, who slew Aper with his own hand, and, marching 
westward, defeated Carinus, who was then assassinated by one 
of his officers, A.D. 285. 

The period of extreme military license here terminates. For 
ninety-two years, from A.D. 193 to 284, the soldiers had en- 
joyed almost continuously the privilege of appointing whomso- 
ever they pleased to the office of supreme ruler. In a few in- 
stances they had allowed a favorite prince — a Severus, a 
Valerian, a Claudius, a Carus — to nominate an associate or 
a successor ; and on one occasion they had put the nomination 
unreservedly into the hands of the Senate ; but generally they 
had asserted and maintained their right, at each vacancy of the 
throne, to choose and proclaim the imperator. They had like- 
wise taken upon themselves to remove by assassination even the 
rulers of their own choice, when they became oppressive or in 
any way unpopular. Ten emperors had thus perished by mili- 
tary violence in the space of sixty-six years (A.D. 217 to 283), 
among them the virtuous Alexander, the mild Gordianus, the 
excellent Probus — and thus every emperor knew that he held 
office simply during the good pleasure of the troops, and that if 
he offended them his life would be the forfeit. Such a system 
was tolerable in only one respect — it tended naturally to place 
power in the hands of able generals. But its evils far more than 
counterbalanced this advantage. Besides the general sense of 
insecurity which it produced, and the absence of anything like 
plan or steady system in the administration, consequent upon 
the rapid change of rulers, it necessarily led to the utter de- 
moralization of the army, which involved as a necessary result 
the absolute ruin of the empire. The army was, under the im- 



442 RAWLINSON 

perial system, the " salt " of the Roman world ; to corrupt it 
was to sap the very life of the State. Yet how could discipline 
be maintained, when every general was bent on ingratiating 
himself with his troops, in the hope of gaining what had come 
to be regarded as the great prize of his profession, and every 
emperor was aware that to institute a searching reform would 
be to sign his own death-warrant ? It was fortunate for Rome 
that she had powerful enemies upon her frontiers. But for the 
pressure thus put both upon the men and the officers, her armies 
would have degenerated much more rapidly than they actually 
did, and her ruin would have been precipitated. 



THIRD SECTION. 

From the Accession of Diocletian, A.D. 284, to the final 
Division of the Empire, A.D. 395.* 

With the accession of Diocletian the declining empire ex- 
perienced another remarkable revival, a revival, moreover, of 
a new character, involving many changes, and constituting a 

* Sources. Besides the Epitomists, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, Ru- 
fus, Zonaras, and Orosius, the most important authorities for this period 
are, Zosimus, whose " Historia Nova " covers the space between the 
accession of Macrinus, A.D. 217, and the sixteenth year of Honorius, 
A.D. 410; Ammianus MarcelHnus, whose eighteen books of " His- 
tories " contain a proHx account of the events which happened between 
A.D. 353 and 378; and the obscure authors of the " Panegyrics," 
Mamertinus, Eumenius, Nazarius, etc., who must be consulted for the 
entire period between Diocletian and Theodosius (A.D. 284 to 395). 
Of inferior importance, yet still of considerable value, are the Christian 
writers, Eusebius (" Historia Ecclesiastica; " ed. Burton. Oxoniis, 
1856; 8vo, and "Vita Constantini Magni; " ed. Heinichen. Lipsi;e, 
1830), Lactantius (" Opera." Biponti, 1786; 2 vols. 8vo), John of 
Malala (in C. Miiller's " Fragm. Hist. Graec," vol. iv.), John of Anti- 
och (in the same collection), Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Evagri- 
us, etc. The " Armenian History " of Moses of Choren is occasionally 
serviceable. Another important source is the " Codex Theodosi- 
anus " (ed. Sismondi. Lipsise, 1736-45; 6 vols, folio), which gives the 
laws passed between A.D. 313 and 438. and the " Codex Justinianus " 
(ed. Kriegel. Lipsiae, 1844; 3 vols. 8vo), which contains numerous 
laws of emperors between Hadrian and Constantine. Coins, medals, 
and inscriptions are also valuable for the period. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



443 



fresh phase of imperiahsm, which contrasts strongly with the 
previous one. Power passed away from the hands of the sol- 
diers, and tended to become dynastic ; the principle of associa- 
tion, adopted on a wide scale, gave stability to the government ; 
the helm of the State was grasped by firm hands, and various 
new arrangements were made, all favorable to absolutism. 
Such restraint as the Senate had up to this time exercised on 
the despotic authority of the emperors — a restraint slightest no 
doubt in the cases where it was most needed, yet still in the 
worst case not wholly nugatory — was completely removed by 
the departure of the Court from Rome, and the erection of other 
cities — Nicomedia, Milan, Constantinople — into seats of gov- 
ernment. When Rome was no longer the capital, the Roman 
Senate became a mere municipal body, directing the affairs of 
a single provincial town ; and as its lost privileges were not 
transferred to another assembly, the Emperor remained the sole 
source of law, the sole fountain of honor, the one and only 
principle of authority. Again, the influence of the praetorians, 
who, in their fortified camp, at once guarding and commanding 
Rome, had constituted another check on the absolute power 
of the princes, ceased with the reforms of Diocletian and Con- 
stantine, who respectively diminished their numbers and sup- 
pressed them. The Orientalization of the Court, the com- 
parative seclusion of the monarch, and the multiplication of 
officers and ceremonies, weakened, if it did not even destroy, 
such little control as public opinion had hitherto exercised over 
the caprices of the monarch. Above all, the multiplication of 
emperors and the care taken to secure the throne against such 
an occurrence as a vacancy, took from the legionaries the 
power, which they had so long exercised and so much abused, 
of making and destroying monarchs at their will, and placed 
the imperial authority almost beyond the risk of danger from 
military violence. 

While the principle of authority was thus gaining in strength, 
and the anarchy which had prevailed for more than half a cen- 
tury was giving place to the firm, if somewhat over-despotic, 
rule of princes who felt themselves secure in their possession 
of the throne, another quite separate and most important 
change was taking place, whereby new life was infused into the 



444 



RAWLINSON 



community. Christianity, hitherto treated as inimical to the 
State, contemned and ignored, or else down-trodden and op- 
pressed, found itself at length taken into favor by the civil 
power, being first tolerated by Galerius, after he had vainly 
endeavored to root it out, and then established by Constamtine. 
As there can be no doubt that by this time the great mass of 
the intellect and virtue of the nation had passed over to the 
Christian side, the State cannot but have gained considerably 
by a change which enabled it to employ freely these persons. 

But scarcely any political change is without its drawbacks. 
The establishment of Christianity as the State religion, while it 
alienated those who still adhered to heathenism, tended to cor- 
rupt Christianity itself, which persecution had kept pure, turned 
the attention of the rulers from the defence and safety of the 
empire to minute questions of heterodoxy and orthodoxy, and 
engaged the civil power in new struggles with its own subjects, 
whom it was called upon to coerce as heretics or schismatics. 
Moreover, the adoption of Christianity by a state, all whose 
antecedents were bound up with heathenism, was like the put- 
ting of a " new patch on an old garment," which could not bear 
the alteration. All the old associations, all the old motives to 
self-sacrifice and patriotism, all the old watch-words and rally- 
ing cries were discredited ; and new ones, in harmony with the 
new religion, could not at once be extemporized. A change of 
religion, even though from false to true, cannot but shake a 
nation to its very core ; and the Roman body-politic was too old 
and too infirm not to sufifer severely from such a disturbance. 
The change came too late thoroughly to revive and renovate ; 
it may therefore, not improbably, have weakened and helped 
towards dissolution. 

Nor were the other political changes of the period wholly 
and altogether beneficial. The partition of the supreme power 
among numerous co-ordinate emperors was a fertile source of 
quarrel and misunderstanding, and gave rise to frequent civil 
wars. The local principle on which the partition was made in- 
creased the tendency towards a disruption of the empire into 
fragments, which had already manifested itself. The degra- 
dation of Rome and the exaltation of rival capitals worked 
in the same direction, and was likewise a breaking with 



ANCIENT HISTORY 445 

the past which could not but be trying and hazardous. The 
completer despotism gave, no doubt, new vigor to the admin- 
istration ; but it was irksome and revolting to the feelings of 
many, more especially in the provinces of the West ; it alien- 
ated their affections, and prepared them to submit readily to a 
change of governors. 

But, if the remedies devised by the statesmen of the Diocle- 
tianic period were insufficient to restore the Empire to its pris- 
tine strength and vigor, at any rate they acted as stimulants, 
and revived the moribund State very wonderfully for a space 
of time not inconsiderable. From the accession of Diocletian 
to the death of Thcodosius the Great (A.D. 284 to 395), is a 
period exceeding a century. During the whole of it, Rome 
maintained her frontiers and her unity, rolled back each wave 
of invasion as it broke upon her, and showed herself superior 
to all the surrounding peoples. For the gleam of glory which 
thus gilds her closing day, must we not regard her as in a great 
measure indebted to the reforms of Diocletian and Constan- 
tine? 

Diocletian was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, in Sep- 
tember, A.D. 284. He defeated Carinus, and entered on his 
full sovereignty, in the following year. His first public meas- 
ure (A.D. 286) was to associate in the Empire, under the title of 
" Augustus," his comrade in arms, Maximian, a man who had 
risen from the ranks, and who had few merits besides that of 
being a good general. A few years later (A.D. 292), he com- 
pleted his scheme of government by the further creation of two 
" Caesars," who were to stand to the two " Augusti " as sons 
and successors. Galerius and Constantius, selected respec- 
tively for this important office by Diocletian and Maximian, 
were both of them active and able generals, younger than their 
patrons, and well suited to fill the position which was assigned 
to them. They readily accepted the offers of the two emperors, 
and, after repudiating their own wives, married respectively the 
daughter and the step-daughter of their patrons. The Im- 
perial College being thus complete, Diocletian proceeded to a 
division of the empire analogous to that which had formerly 
taken place under the triumvirs. Reserving to the elder 
" Augusti " the more settled provinces, he assigned to the 



446 RAWLINSON 

" Cassars " those which required the care of younger and more 
active men. Gaul, Spain, and Britain, with the defence of the 
Rhine against the Germans, were intrusted to Constantius ; 
the Danubian provinces, Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia, to 
Galerius ; Italy and Africa to Maximian ; while Diocletian him- 
self retained Thrace, Macedon, Egypt, and the East. It was 
understood, however, that the unity of the empire was to be pre- 
served ; the " Caesars " were to be subordinate to the " Au- 
gusti ; " and the younger " Augustus " was to respect the 
superior dignity of the elder. The four princes were to form 
an imperial " Board " or " College," and were to govern the 
whole State by their united wisdom. 

The complex governmental system thus established by Dio- 
cletian worked thoroughly well while he himself retained the 
superintendence of the machine which he had invented. No 
quarrels arose ; the " Csesars " restrained themselves within the 
limits set them ; and Maximian was always ready to submit his 
judgment to that of his benefactor. Many dangers from with- 
out, and some from within, threatened the State ; but they were 
met with energy and combated with success by the imperial 
rulers. In Britain, for a while (A.D. 287 to 293), a rebel chief, 
Carausius, a German probably, defied the Roman arms, and 
maintained an independent sovereignty; but the authority of 
Rome was re-established in this quarter (A.D. 296) by the 
victories of Constantius. Maximian put down the troubles 
which, as early as A.D. 287, had broken out in Gaul ; while at a 
later date (A.D. 297), Constantius delivered the same province 
from a furious invasion of the Alemanni. Galerius, after main- 
taining for many years the honor of the Roman arms upon the 
Danube, engaged the Persians in the far East, and although at 
first signally defeated (A.D. 297), made up for his defeat by a 
great victory in the year following, which led to a peace very 
advantageous to the Romans, Finally, Diocletian and Max- 
imian subdued revolt in Africa, chastised the Moors and the 
Egyptians, and put to death the pretenders who had raised the 
standard of revolt in those regions. 

But while success attended the arms of Diocletian and his 
colleagues against whatever enemy they were turned, whether 
foreign or domestic, the results achieved by the internal admin- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 447 

istration of the empire were less satisfactory. After long con- 
sideration, Diocletian determined, towards the close of A.D. 
302, to compel uniformity of religion, and for this purpose is- 
sued an edict against the Christians (A.D. 303), which led to 
terrible excesses. Throughout the entire empire, except in the 
extreme West, where Constantius protected those of the " new 
religion," one-half of the community found itself proscribed ; 
the most relentless persecution followed ; thousands were put 
to death in almost every province ; the churches were demol- 
ished, endowments confiscated, the sacred books burnt, meet- 
ings for worship prohibited, the clergy declared enemies of the 
State. A war of extermination commenced, to which there 
seemed to be no end ; for, as usual, the " blood of the martyrs " 
proved the " seed of the Church," and the ranks of the Chris- 
tians were replenished as fast as they were thinned. A state of 
things worse than civil war prevailed, authority being engaged 
in a conflict in which it could not succeed, and being thus 
brought into disrepute, while the most cruel sufferings were 
day by day inflicted on the citizens who were least deserving of 
them. 

Nor was suffering at this period confined to the Christians. 
The establishment of four Courts instead of one, and- the mul- 
tiplication of officials and of armies, vastly augmented the ex- 
penditure ; and a heavy increase of taxation was the necessary 
consequence. The provinces groaned under the burden of 
oppressive imposts ; which were wrung from the reluctant tax- 
payer by violence and even by torture. Industry sank beneath 
a system which left it without reward ; production diminished ; 
and the price of all commodities rose. To meet this evil, a 
futile attempt was made to fix by a law a maximum of prices 
for all the necessaries, and most of the commodities, of life, for 
corn, wine, and oil, salt, honey, butchers'-meat, vegetables, 
clothes, fish, fruit, laborers' wages, schoolmasters' and advo- 
cates' fees, boots and shoes, harness, timber, and beer. Such 
an interference with the natural course of trade could only ag- 
gravate the evils which it was intended to allay. 

The severe illness which afflicted Diocletian in A.D. 304, was 
probably the chief cause determining him on the most cele- 
brated act of his life — his abdication. His health made rest 



448 RAWLINSON 

necessary for him ; and he may naturally have desired to preside 
over the steps which required to be taken in order to secure the 
continuance of his system after he himself should have quitted 
life. Accordingly, he formally abdicated his power in A.D. 305, 
after a reign of twenty-one years, and compelled Maximian to 
do the same. The two " Caesars," Galerius and Constantius, 
became hereupon " Augusti," and should, according to the 
original design of Diocletian, have respectively succeeded to 
the provinces of the East and of the West, and have each ap- 
pointed a " Caesar " to rule a portion of his dominions. But 
the partiality of Diocletian for his own " Caesar " and son-in- 
law, Galerius, or his conviction that the empire required a chief 
ruler to prevent it from breaking up, produced a modification 
of the original plan. Galerius, with Diocletian's sanction, ap- 
pointed both the new " Caesars," and assigned them their gov- 
ernments, giving to his nephew Maximin, Syria and Egypt ; 
to his friend Severus, Italy and Africa. Constantius simply re- 
tained what he already had. Galerius reserved for his own 
share the entire tract between Gaul and Syria, and was thus 
master, in his own person or by his deputies, of three-fourths 
of the empire. 

The new partition of the empire was followed shortly by the 
death of Constantius, who expired at York, July 24, A.D. 306. 
On his decease, the legions immediately proclaimed his son, 
Constantine, his successor. This was an infringement of the 
new order of things ; but Galerius felt himself obliged to con- 
done it, to recognize a legitimate " Caesar " in the new prince, 
while he raised Severus to the rank of " Augustus." The har- 
mony of the empire was thus still preserved, in spite of the ir- 
regularity which had threatened to disturb it, and the Roman 
world continued to be still amicably governed by four princes, 
two of whom were " Augusti " and two " Caesars." 

But it was not long before the tranquillity was interrupted. 
Maxentius, son of Maximian, took advantage of the discontent 
prevalent in Rome and Italy owing to the loss of privilege and 
dignity, to raise the standard of revolt, assume the imperial or- 
naments, and boldly proclaim himself emperor. His father, 
Maximian, joined him, and resumed the rank of " Augustus." 
In vain Severus hurried to Rome, and endeavored to crush the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 449 

insurrection. Abandoned by his troops, he fell into his en- 
emy's hands, and was compelled to end his life by suicide, A.D. 
307. In vain Galerius, at the head of all the forces of the cen- 
tral and eastern provinces, sought to impose his will on the 
rebellious Romans and Italians ; after a short campaign he was 
obliged to retreat without eflfecting anything. Maximian and 
Maxentius, who had allied themselves with Constantine, held 
their ground successfully against the efforts of their antago- 
nists ; and for a brief space the empire was administered peace- 
fully by six emperors, Constantine, Maximian, and Maxentius 
in the West ; in the East, Galerius, Maximin, and Licinius, who 
had received the imperial dignity from Galerius after the death 
of Severus. 

The inherent evil of the new system of government now be- 
gan to show itself. First, Maximian and Maxentius quar- 
relled, and the former was forced to take refuge with Con- 
stantine. Then Constantine himself had to defend his position 
against the intrigues of his father-in-law, and having defeated 
him, put him to death, A.D. 310. In the next year Galerius 
perished by the miserable death which has often befallen per- 
secutors ; and the rulers of the Roman world were thus reduced 
to four, Constantine in the West, Maxentius in Italy and Africa, 
Licinius in Illyricum and Thrace, Maximin in Egypt and Asia. 
But no friendly feeling now united the members of the Imperial 
College. War broke out between Constantine and Maxentius 
in A.D. 312, and between Licinius and Maximin in the year 
following. In each case the struggle was soon decided. Con- 
stantine vanquished his adversary in two battles — one near 
Verona, the other at the Colline gate — and became master of 
Rome and Italy. Maxentius perished in the Tiber. Maximin 
was defeated by Licinius in a single great fight, near Heracleia ; 
but the victory was decisive, being followed shortly by the de- 
feated emperor's suicide. It remained that the two victors, 
lords respectively of the East and of the West, should measure 
their strength against each other. This they did in A.D. 314; 
and after a long and bloody struggle, interrupted by an interval 
of peace (A.D. 315 to 322), victory declared itself in favor of 
the Western legions, and Constantine, who is not without rea- 
son given the epithet of " the Great," became sole master of 
29 



450 RAWLINSON 

the reunited Roman Empire. The defeated Licinius was, as a 
matter of course, put to death, A.D. 324. 

The reign of Constantine the Great is the turning-point of 
this period of the history. He completed the revolution which 
Diocletian had begun. By his entire abolition of the praeto- 
rians, and conversion of their prefects into purely civil officers, 
he secured the State as far as was possible from the tyranny of 
the sword. By the erection of his new capital, and the formal 
transfer of the seat of government from Rome to Byzantium, 
he put the finishing stroke to the degradation of the old me- 
tropolis, destroyed forever the power of the Senate, and freed 
the emperors from all those galling restrictions which old con- 
stitutional forms and usages imposed upon them. By his or- 
ganization of the Court on a thoroughly Eastern model, he 
stamped finally on the later empire the character of Orientalism 
which attaches to it. Finally, by his new division of the em- 
pire into Prefectures, and his assignment of different portions 
of his dominions to his sons and nephews, on whom he con- 
ferred the titles of " Caesar," or " King," he maintained in a 
modified form the principles of a federated as distinct from 
a centralized government, and of joint as distinct from sole rule, 
which was the most original, and at the same time the most 
doubtful, of Diocletian's conceptions. 

But the reforms of Constantine were not limited by the range 
of his predecessor's conceptions. He established, not merely 
at the Court, but throughout the empire, a graduated nobility, 
the archetype of the modern systems, mainly but not wholly 
official, composed of three ranks : the " illustrious " (iUiistrcs) ; 
the " respectable " (spcctabilcs) ; and the " right honorable " 
(clarissimi). To the " illustrious " class belonged the consuls 
during their term of office ; the patricians, life peers, who re- 
ceived the title of " patricius " at the will of the Emperor ; the 
praetorian prefects, six in number, four provincial and two met- 
ropolitan — the prefects respectively of Rome and Constanti- 
nople ; the masters-general of the cavalry and infantry ; and 
the seven chief officers of the Court, mentioned in the preced- 
ing section. Under the head of " respectable " were included 
the proconsuls of Asia, Africa, and Achaea; the heads of the 
thirteen dioceses, whatever their special title, whether vicar, 



ANCIENT HISTORY 4Si 

count, or augustal prefect ; and the second rank of officers in the 
army, thirty-five in number, of whom ten were " counts " 
and the remainder " dukes." The subordinate governors of 
provinces, consulars, presidents, and correctors, together with 
the other members of the Roman and Constantinopohtan Sen- 
ates, constituted the class of " right honorablcs " or " claris- 
simi." Constantine Hkewisc reorganized the Roman army. 
He multipHed the number and reduced the strength of the 
legions, which were raised from thirty or thirty-one to a hun- 
dred and thirty-two, while the strength of each sank from 6000 
to 1000 or 1500. He divided the soldiers into the two classes 
of " palatines " and '* borderers," the former quartered in the 
chief towns of the empire, the latter stationed upon the fron- 
tiers. The whole army he placed under two (later, under four) 
commanders, called respectively, " master of the horse " (mag- 
ister equitum) and " master of the foot " (magister peditiim), but 
each practically commanding mixed armies in the field. Next 
in rank to them were the various " counts " and " dukes," who 
acted as lieutenants or divisional generals, and were stationed 
in the more exposed provinces. 

It is not certain that Constantine made any change in the 
nature or amount of the taxes which the imperial government 
exacted from its subjects. But the fact that the " era of in- 
dictions " dates from a year within his reign (Sept. i, A.D. 312) 
would seem to imply that the practice of making a new survey 
of the empire for financial purposes every fifteen years was com- 
menced by him. The land-tax {capitatio or indictid), with its 
supplement, the poll-tax {capitatio huniana or plchcia), the tax 
on trades (aurum lustrale), the indirect taxes, customs, etc., the 
forced contributions {aurum coronarium) were, all of them, im- 
posts of old standing at this time ; and it is not easy to see that 
Constantine added any others. He was probably rigid in his 
exaction of taxes, and may have been the first to require that 
all payments to the treasury should be made in gold ; but the 
charge of oppressing his subjects by the imposition of new and 
unheard-of burdens, which rests upon the sole testimony of the 
prejudiced Zosimus, is certainly " not proven." 

But the great change, the crowning reform, introduced and 
carried through by Constantine was his reformation of religion. 



452 RAWLINSON 

Here he did not so much go beyond as directly contradict the 
ideal of Diocletian. Diocletian, and after him Galerius, had 
endeavored to destroy Christianity, root and branch, by the 
fire of persecution. But they had failed ; and Galerius had ac- 
knowledged the failure by an edict issued from his death-bed, 
which permitted to the Christians the free exercise of their re- 
ligion, and invited them to aid the suffering emperor by their 
prayers. Galerius, however, and the emperors of his appoint- 
ment, though they tolerated Christianity, had remained heath- 
ens, and had continued to maintain heathenism as the State 
religion. It remained for Constantine not merely to tolerate, 
but in a certain sense to establish, the new religion ; to recog- 
nize its bishops and clergy as privileged persons, to contribute 
largely towards its endowment, to allow the meetings and give 
effect to the decrees of its councils, to conform the jurispru- 
dence of the State to its precepts and its practices. Hence the 
laws against infanticide, against adultery, against pederasty, 
against rape and seduction passed at this period ; hence the 
edict for the general observance of Sunday, and the new and 
strong restrictions upon the facility of divorce. Constantine 
did not indeed, as has sometimes been supposed, proscribe 
heathenism ; he did not shut up the temples, neither did he for- 
bid the offering of sacrifice. But he completely dissociated 
the State from heathenism, and to a certain extent allied it with 
Christianity ; he stopped all magisterial offering of sacrifice ; he 
shut up the temples where the ritual was immoral. Though 
not a baptized Christian till shortly before his death, he threw 
the whole weight of his encouragement on the Christian side ; 
and the rapid increase in the number of professing Christians, 
which now set in, must be regarded as in great part the effect 
of his patronage. 

The character of Constantine has been variously estimated, 
according as his patronage of Christianity has been liked or 
disliked. The most impartial writers view him as a man in 
whom vice and virtue, weakness and strength of mind were 
curiously blended. His military talents and his power of or- 
ganization are incontestable. His activity, courage, prudence, 
and affectionateness cannot be questioned. But he was less 
clement and humane than it was to have been expected that 



ANCIENT HISTORY 453 

the first Christian emperor would have shown himself ; he was 
strangely superstitious ; and his religion, so far as it can be 
gathered from his public acts, his coins, his medals, and his 
recorded speeches, was a curious medley of Christianity and 
paganism, which it is not pleasant to contemplate. His char- 
acter deteriorated as time went on. His best period is that of 
his administration of Gaul, A.D. 306 to 312. As he grew older, 
he became more suspicious, more irritable, more harsh and 
severe in his punishments. The darkest shadow which rests 
upon his reign is connected with the execution of his son, 
Crispus, and his nephew, Licinius, events of the year A.D. 326 ; 
but it is impossible to say whether these acts were, or were not, 
a State necessity — whether they punished a contemplated crime, 
or were cruelties which had their origin in a wicked and un- 
worthy jealousy. The harmony which subsisted between Con- 
stantine and his other sons, and the kindness which he showed 
towards his half-brothers and their offspring, may reasonably 
incline us to the belief that in the great tragedy of his domestic 
life Constantine was rather unfortunate than guilty. 

The later years of Constantine were troubled by the bar- 
barians of the North and East, who once more assumed the ag- 
gressive, and invaded, or threatened to invade, the Roman 
territory. In the vigor of his youth and middle age he had re- 
pelled such attacks in person, defeating the Franks and Ale- 
manni in Gaul, A.D. 309, and the Goths and Sarmatians upon 
the Danube, A.D. 322. Less active as he approached old age, 
he employed the arms of his eldest son, Constantine, to chastise 
the Goths in A.D. 332, and allowed the hostile proceedings of 
the Persians (A.D. 336) to pass unrebuked. At the same time 
he made preparations for the succession, in anticipation of 
his own demise, creating his third son, Constans, and his 
nephew, Dalmatius, " Caesars," making another nephew, Han- 
nibalianus. Rex, and assigning to these two nephews and his 
three surviving sons the administration of different portions of 
his dominions. Constantine died. May 22, A.D. 337, having 
reigned nearly thirty-one years. 

The designs of Constantine with respect to the succession 
were not allowed to take full effect. Troubles followed close 
upon his decease, which led to the removal of Dalmatius and 



454 RAWLINSON 

Hannibalianus, and the murder of most of their near relations 
and partisans. The three sons of Constantine divided his do- 
minions between them, Constantine retaining the portion as- 
signed him by his father, viz., the Gauls, Constans receiving 
the share of Dalmatius besides his own, and Constantius ab- 
sorbing the " kingdom " of Hannibalianus. But the brothers 
could not long remain at peace among themselves. Con- 
stantine, the eldest, discontented with his share, required 
Constans to relinquish to him the diocese of Africa, and when 
the latter demurred, invaded his territories and sought to com- 
pel the surrender. He had, however, miscalculated his 
strength, and was easily defeated and slain (A.D. 340). Con- 
stans took possession of his government, but, ruling tyran- 
nically, was, ten years later (A.D. 350), conspired against by his 
generals and ministers, one of whom, Magnentius, assumed 
the purple, captured and slew Constans, and reigned in his 
stead. Meanwhile, Constantius was engaged in an unsuccess- 
ful war against the Persians under their king. Sapor, who aimed 
at recovering the provinces ceded to Galerius by his grand- 
father. Recalled by the dangerous condition of the West, 
where, besides Magnentius, another ofBcer, Vetranio, general 
in Illyricum, had been proclaimed emperor, Constantius in the 
space of three years (A.D. 350 to 353) put down all opposition, 
forcing Vetranio to abdicate his dignity and retire into private 
life (A.D. 350), and driving Magnentius, after twice defeating 
him — at Mursa in Pannonia, A.D. 351, and at Mount Seleucus 
in Gaul, A.D. 353 — to take refuge in suicide. Constantius thus, 
in the sixteenth year after the death of his father Constantine, 
reunited under his sole rule the scattered fragments of the Ro- 
man world. 

The sole reign of Constantius, which lasted from A.D. 353 to 
361, was a period of mixed disaster and success, exhausting 
to the empire, but not inglorious. His bloody contest with 
Magnentius had greatly weakened the Roman military force, 
and exposed the empire almost without defence to the attacks 
of the barbarians. German tribes had been actually encour- 
aged by Constantius to cross the Rhine, and had planted them- 
selves firmly on its left bank. The Quadi and Sarmatians 
ceased to respect the frontier of the Danube. In the East 



ANCIENT HISTORY 455 

Sapor resumed his aggressive operations, and poured his hosts 
into the Roman province of Mesopotamia. But though the 
Roman arms sustained many reverses, especially in the East, 
and though the provinces suffered grievously from hostile in- 
roads, yet on every side the honor of the empire was upheld or 
vindicated, and no permanent conquest of Roman territory was 
effected. Constantius repulsed the Quadi and attacked them 
in their own abodes, A.D. 357 ; set a king devoted to his in- 
terests over the Sarmatse, A.D. 359 ; and prevented Sapor from 
occupying the regions which he overran with his army, A.D. 
360. In the West, the efforts of Julian were crowned with still 
more decided success. The Franks and Alemanni, defeated in 
a number of battles (A.D. 356 to 358), evacuated their new 
conquests and retired to the right bank of the Rhine ; but even 
here the vengeance of the Romans followed them. Julian led 
three expeditions across the great river, ravaged Germany far 
and wide, and returned into Gaul with a rich booty. 

In his relations with the princes of his family Constantius 
was peculiarly unhappy. At his accession, A.D. 337, he had 
sanctioned, if he had not even commanded, the massacre of his 
two surviving uncles and seven of his cousins. Two cousins 
only, Gallus and Julian, boys of six and twelve respectively, he 
had spared. Having no male offspring, and having lost his two 
brothers, who died childless, it was only to these two princes 
that he could look, if he desired heirs of his own blood and 
lineage. Accordingly, when the troubles caused by Magnen- 
tius summoned him to the West, A.D. 350, he drew forth Gallus 
from the retirement in which he bred him up, conferred upon 
him the title of " Caesar," and intrusted to him the administra- 
tion of the East. But the ill-trained prince having grievously 
abused his trust, was in A.D. 354 summoned to appear before 
Constantius at Milan, and, when he obeyed, was seized while 
upon his journey, imprisoned and put to death. Shortly after- 
wards (A.D. 355) Julian was, by the influence of the Empress, 
Eusebia, advanced to the dignity made vacant by his half- 
brother's decease and invested with the government of the 
Gauls ; but the Emperor was from first to last jealous of his 
young kinsman and harsh in his treatment of him. At length, 
when he found himself about to be deprived of the troops who 



456 RAWLINSON 

constituted his sole defence, Julian allowed his soldiers to pro- 
claim him emperor (A.D. 360), and marched eastward to main- 
tain his cause in arms. Another civil war would have followed 
had not Constantius opportunely died (A.D. 361) and left the 
throne open to his rival. 

Julian, the last prince of the house of Constantine, who suc- 
ceeded to the undivided empire on the death of Constantius, 
was a man of unquestionable ability and of nearly blameless 
moral character ; but his reign was a misfortune for the empire. 
A pagan from conviction, he not only restored Paganism to its 
old position as the established religion of the State, but en- 
deavored to destroy Christianity by depriving its professors of 
the advantages of wealth, knowledge, and power, and perti- 
naciously directing against them every weapon of petty perse- 
cution. The success of his enterprise, had it been possible, 
would have deeply injured the State, since it would have sub- 
stituted a degraded morality and an efifete religion for an ethical 
system in which even sceptics can find no fault, and a faith 
whose vitality is evidenced by its continuing to exist and to 
flourish at the present day. But success was wholly impos- 
sible ; even a partial success could only have been gained at the 
expense of a prolonged civil war; and thus the sole result of 
the emperor's futile attempt was to cause a large amount of 
actual suffering, to exasperate the two parties against each 
other, and to prolong a struggle which could only end in one 
way. The religious counter-revolution which he designed was 
altogether a mistake and an anachronism ; and it was well for 
the empire that the brevity of his reign confined the time of 
suffering and of struggle within narrow limits. 

Nor was the great military expedition which Julian under- 
took against the Persians more fortunate in its results than his 
crusade against the faith of half his subjects. The end at which 
he aimed — the actual destruction of the Persian empire — was 
grand, and the plans which he formed for the accomplishment 
of his object were not ill-devised ; but he had underrated the 
difficulty of his undertaking, and had counted too much on 
all his plans being carried out successfully. The allies on 
whose assistance he reckoned — Armenia and Liberia — failed 
him ; his second army, which had been directed to take the 



I 



ANCIENT HISTORY 457 

line of the Tigris and join him before Ctesiphon, never made 
its appearance ; he himself accomplished without disaster his 
march along the Euphrates and the Nahr-Malcha to the Per- 
sian capital, but he found his forces insufficient to undertake 
its siege, and after an imprudent delay he was compelled, just 
as the heats of summer were coming on, to commence his re- 
treat. But the multitudinous enemy hung about his rear, cut 
off his stragglers, deprived him of supplies, and even ventured, 
where the ground was favorable, to occupy and interrupt his 
line of march. Like the Ten Thousand Greeks in their retreat 
through the same regions, the Roman army had day after day 
to fight its way. At length in one of these numerous combats 
Julian fell. The soldiers, forced to supply his place, created 
the Christian, Jovian, emperor ; and Jovian procured himself 
a safe retreat from Persia with the remnant of Julian's army by 
relinquishing the provinces ceded to Galerius in A.D. 248, to- 
gether with a portion of Mesopotamia. 

The reign of Jovian lasted only a few months — from June, 
A.D. 363, to February, A.D. 364 — but it was long enough to 
enable him to reverse his predecessor's religious changes, and 
restore Christianity to its former position. He conducted the 
army of Julian from the eastern bank of the Tigris to Ancyra 
in Phrygia, religiously performed the stipulations of his treaty 
with Sapor, replaced Athanasius on his episcopal throne, and 
issued an edict of universal toleration. His death, February 17, 
A.D. 364, was sudden and mysterious, but is most probably to 
be ascribed to natural causes. 

An interregnum of ten days followed the death of Jovian, 
At its close the great officials of the empire took upon them- 
selves to nominate a monarch, and selected Valentinian, a 
Christian and a brave officer, who had served with distinction 
both on the Rhine and in Persia. The army ratified the choice, 
but required the new emperor to associate a colleague, being 
anxious (apparently) to prevent the recurrence of such a time 
of uncertainty and suspense as they had just experienced. Val- 
entinian conferred the purple on his younger brother, Valens, 
and committed to his hands the administration of the " prae- 
fectura Orientis," reserving the rest of the empire for himself. 
He fixed his court at Milan, and from this centre, or some- 



458 RAWLINSON 

times from Treves, he governed with vigor and success, 
though not without occasional cruelty, the various prov- 
inces of the West. In person, or by his generals, he defeated 
the Picts and Scots in Britain, the Saxons in Northern Gaul, 
the Franks and Alemanni upon the Rhine, and the Quadi upon 
the Danube, everywhere maintaining the frontier and defend- 
ing it by castles and ramparts. He suppressed the revolt of 
Firmus in Africa, and re-established the Roman authority over 
Numidia and Mauretania. As early as A.D. 367, he associated 
his son, Gratian, in the honors of the imperial dignity, but gave 
him no share in the government. He died at Bregetio, on the 
Danube, November 17, A.D. 375, when he had reigned between 
eleven and twelve years. 

Meanwhile, the weaker Valens in the East, cruel, timid, and 
governed by favorites, with difficulty maintained himself upon 
the throne which he owed, not to his own merit, but to the af- 
fection or the jealousy of his brother. The insurrection of 
Procopius had nearly brought his reign to an end in the year 
after his accession, A.D. 365, but was suppressed by the cour- 
age and devotion of the brave and unselfish Sallust. War with 
the Visigoths, who had embraced the cause of Procopius, fol- 
lowed, A.D. 367, and was concluded by a peace, A.D. 369, of 
which the barbarians dictated the terms. A campaign against 
Sapor, A.D. 371, had no result of importance. In the follow- 
ing year there was a conspiracy at Antioch which threatened the 
life of the Emperor, But the great event of the reign of Valens 
was the irruption of the Huns into Europe, and the consequent 
precipitation on the Roman Empire of the dispossessed Goths, 
who, received as suppliants and fugitives, were in a little while 
driven by ill-treatment to declare themselves enemies, and in 
the two battles of Marcianople and Adrianople proved their 
superiority over the Roman armies, defeating first the generals 
of Valens, and then Valens himself, who was slain at Adriano- 
ple, with two-thirds of his soldiers, A.D. 378. 

On the death of Valentinian, A.D. 375, he had been succeed- 
ed by his son Gratian, a youth of seventeen, who immediately 
associated in the government his brother, Valentinian II., a boy 
of five. Gratian, the pupil of the Christian poet, Ausonius, was 
amiable but weak. So long as the instructors of his youth 



ANCIENT HISTORY 459 

maintained their authority over him, he conducted himself with 
credit and seemed to be an excellent ruler. Gaul was delivered 
from the Alemanni under his auspices by the victory of Ar- 
gentaria (A.D. 378) ; and the East, which the precipitation of 
his uncle had prevented him from saving, was wisely placed 
under the superintendence of Theodosius, whom Gratian raised 
from a private station to be his colleague, A.D. 379. The pre- 
fecture of Illyricum was voluntarily ceded by the Western to 
the Eastern Emperor. But as advancing manhood emanci- 
pated Gratian from control, the natural softness and weakness 
of his character displayed itself. Unworthy favorites obtained 
from him the direction of public affairs, and cruelly abused his 
confidence. Hunting became his passion ; and the hours which 
should have been given to business were devoted to the pleas- 
ures and excitement of the chase. The army was neglected 
and resented its treatment ; the indolent emperor was despised ; 
in a short time revolt broke out. Maximus, a Roman settled 
in Britain, was invested with the purple by the British legions, 
and passed over into Gaul, with the intention of engaging 
Gratian. But the Gallic legions refused to fight ; and Gratian, 
quitting Paris, where he held his court, fled to Lyons, and was 
there overtaken and slain, A.D. 383. 

Maximus, successful thus far, obtained an acknowledgment 
of his dignity from Theodosius, on condition of his acknowledg- 
ing in his turn the title of Valentinian II., and leaving him in 
undisturbed possession of the Italian prefecture, which had 
been made over to him by his brother. But the ambition of 
the usurper induced him after a few years to break his engage- 
ment. In August, A.D. 387, he crossed the Alps, invaded 
Italy, and drove Valentinian to take refuge in the East. There 
the great Theodosius, after some hesitation, embraced the cause 
of his nephew, married his sister Galla, and, defeating Maxi- 
mus in Pannonia, A.D. 388, replaced the young Valentinian 
upon the throne. 

Valentinian II., who now at the age of eighteen became for 
the second time emperor, was amiable and weak, like his 
brother. He allowed a subject, Argobastes, a Frank by race, 
to obtain a position in the kingdom similar to that occupied by 
the " mayors of the palace " under the Merovingian kings of 



46o RAWLINSON 

France ; and then, becoming aware of his own want of au- 
thority, attempted to remove him, but in vain. Argobastes 
asserted his power, refused to lay down his office, and after a 
few days murdered his master, A.D. 392, and placed a creature 
of his own, one Eugenius, upon the throne. 

The new emperor was not acknowledged by Theodosius, 
whose natural indignation at the contempt shown for his ar- 
rangements was stimulated by the prayers and tears of his wife, 
Galla, the sister of the murdered monarch. After temporizing 
for some months, while he collected a formidable force, the 
Eastern emperor invaded the provinces of the West, defeating 
his rival by the help of his own troops near Aquileia, and caused 
his head to be struck from his shoulders, A.D. 394. The 
Frank, Argobastes, became a fugitive, and soon afterwards 
terminated his life by suicide. 

The reign of Theodosius in the East runs parallel with those 
of Gratian, Maximus, Valentinian II., and Eugenius in the 
West, commencing A.D. 379, in the fourth year of Gratian, and 
terminating A.D. 395, the year after the death of Eugenius. 
It is a reign which surprises us by its wonderful vigor. The- 
odosius truly deserved the name of " Great." By a combina- 
tion of patience and caution with vast military skill, he in the 
course of five years (A.D. 379 to 384) effectually reduced the 
hordes of the Visigoths to subjection, converted them from 
enemies into subjects, and was able to use their swords against 
his other adversaries. It was no doubt an evil that these bar- 
barians, and the Ostrogoths also, after their defeat in A.D. 386, 
were settled within the limits of the empire, in Moesia, Thrace, 
Illyricum, and Asia Minor; since they were not sufficiently 
civilized to amalgamate with the other subjects of the State. 
But Theodosius had only a choice of evils. If he had not given 
the barbarians settlements, he would have driven them to de- 
spair ; and more was to be feared from their despair than even 
from their fickleness and turbulence. Theodosius himself kept 
the Goths quiet while he lived. He employed them with good 
efifect against Maximus and Eugenius. If his successors had 
had his talents, the new subjects of the empire might, very 
possibly, have been kept under control, and have become its 
strength instead of proving its weakness. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 461 

The vigor of Theodosius, which was employed with such 
good efifect against the Goths, and against the usurpers who 
troubled the repose of the West, found another and more ques- 
tionable vent in the regulation of the faith of his subjects and in 
earnest and prolonged efforts to establish uniformity of re- 
ligion. A qualified persecution of heathenism had been sanc- 
tioned by some previous emperors. Theodosius broadly for- 
bade all exercise of the chief rites of the old pagan religion 
under the extreme penalty of death ; shut up or destroyed the 
temples ; confiscated the old endowments ; and made every act , 
of the worship penal. Towards heretics he acted with equal 
decision, but with somewhat less harshness. The Arians and 
other sects condemned by the Councils of Nice (A.D. 325) and 
Constantinople (A.D. 381) were compelled to relinquish their 
churches, vacate their sees, and make over their endowments 
to the orthodox ; they were forbidden to preach, to ordain min- 
isters, and even to meet for public worship ; but the penalty in 
case of disobedience rarely went beyond a fine or exile, and 
practically the penalties were very seldom enforced. The ad- 
ministration of Theodosius was very much less severe than his 
laws ; and to judge him from his code alone would give a false 
idea of his character. 

Still Theodosius cannot be wholly absolved from the charge 
of violence and cruelty. His temper was capricious ; and, while 
upon some occasions he exhibited an extraordinary degree of 
clemency and gentleness under extreme provocation, as when 
(in A.D. 387) he pardoned the insolence of Antiochenes, yet 
on others he allowed the fury which opposition awoke in him 
to have free course, and involved the innocent and the guilty 
in one sweeping sentence of punishment. The most notable 
example of this culpable severity is to be found in the famous 
massacre of the Thessalonians, for which he was compelled to 
do penance by St. Ambrose (A.D. 390). 

The victory of Theodosius over the usurper, Eugenius, A.D. 
394, had made him master of the West, and reunited for the last 
time the whole of the Roman world under the sceptre of a single 
monarch. But the union did not last longer than a few months. 
It had come to be an accepted principle of the imperial policy 
that the weight of the internal administration, and the defence 



462 RAWLINSON 

of the frontiers against the barbarians, was a burden beyond the 
powers of any single man. From the accession of Diocletian 
the Roman world had been governed, excepting on rare oc- 
casions, by a plurality of princes; and it had been the usual 
practice to partition out the provinces among them. Theo- 
dosius, therefore, had no sooner defeated Eugenius, than he 
sent for his younger son, Honorius, a boy of eleven, and pre- 
pared to make over to him the Western Empire. Soon after- 
wards, finding his end approaching, he formally divided his 
dominions between his two sons, leaving the East to Arcadius, 
the elder, and the West to Honorius, whom he placed under the 
guardianship of the general Stilicho. Theodosius expired at 
Milan in the fiftieth year of his age and the sixteenth of his 
reign, January 17, A.D. 395. 

FOURTH SECTION. 

History of the Western Empire from the Accession of Hono- 
rius, A.D. 395, to the Deposition of Romulus Augustus, 
A.D. 476.* 

Hitherto the East and West, if politically separate govern- 
ments, had been united by sympathy, by the mutual lending 
and receiving of assistance, and by the idea, at any rate, that in 
some sense they formed one empire. With Arcadius and 
Honorius this idea begins to fade and disappear ; relations of 
friendship between the governments are replaced by feelings 
of jealousy, of mutual repulsion, of suspicion, distrust, and dis- 
like. Hence the disruption of the empire is ordinarily dated 

* Sources. For the reign of Honorius Zosimus is our chief authority; 
but his prejudiced history must be supplemented and often corrected 
from the works of the poet Claudian (ed. Konig, Gottingse, 1808; 8vo), 
who is however too eulogistic. Both for this and for the subsequent 
period, the " Epitome " of Orosius, and the " Chronicles " of Prosper 
and Marcellinus are of service. Jornandes, the Gothic historian, rises 
in importance, as the history of the Goths becomes more and more 
closely intermixed with that of the Romans. The ecclesiastical his- 
torians, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, etc., and the chronologers, 
Idatius, Isodorus, etc., have an occasional value. Other authors will 
be mentioned under particular heads. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 463 

from this time, though the separation was really so gradual that 
the historian acts somewhat arbitrarily in fixing on any definite 
point. There is, however, none better than the date commonly 
taken ; and, as the Eastern or Byzantine Empire belongs con- 
fessedly to Modern and not to Ancient History, the fortunes of 
the Western Empire will alone be followed in this concluding 
section of the history of Ancient Rome. 

The origin of the estrangement between the East and West 
appears to have been the nnitual jealousy and conflicting pre- 
tensions of Rufinus, the minister of the Eastern, and Stilicho, 
the general and guardian of the Western emperor. This jeal- 
ousy cost Rufinus his life, and rendered the relations between 
the two states unsatisfactory. The ill-will was brought to a head, 
when the Goths of Moesia and Thrace, having revolted under 
Alaric, instead of being sternly repressed by the Eastern em- 
peror, were treated with and induced to remove to a region 
from which they threatened Italy. When Alaric was made by 
Arcadius master-general of the Eastern lUyricum, A.D. 398, 
it was felt at once that the West was menaced ; and the dreadful 
invasions which followed were ascribed, not without some show 
of reason, to the connivance of the Emperor of the East, who, 
to save his own territories, had let the Goths loose upon his 
brother's. The first invasion, in A.D. 402, carried devastation 
over the-^rich plains of Northern Italy, but was effectually 
checked^ by~Stilicho, who completely defeated Alaric in the 
battle of PolleMla :;;(March 29, A.D. 403) and forced him to 
retire into Illyricuni. "^TJie second invasion, A.D. 408, was 
more disastrous. The empife'had lost the services of Stilicho, 
who had been sacrificed to the jealcxusy of an ungrateful mas- 
ter. Alaric marched upon Rome, and formed the siege of the 
city, but after some months consented to spare it on the receipt 
of an enormous ransom, A.D. 409. He then sought to come 
to terms with Honorius, who had fixed his court at Ravenna ; 
but, being insulted during the negotiations, he broke them off, 
once more marched on Rome, starved the city into submission, 
and entered it as its master, A.D. 410. A puppet emperor was 
set up in the person of a certain Attains, who was however, 
after a few months, again degraded by Alaric to a private con- 
dition. The court of Ravenna still refusing the terms of peace 



464 RAWLINSON 

which Alaric offered, he finally, in August, A.D. 410, resolved 
to push hostility to the utmost. Advancing a third time upon 
Rome, he took and sacked the city, overran Southern Italy, 
and made himself master of the whole peninsula from the walls 
of Ravenna to the Sicilian sea. The Roman Empire of the 
West would probably have now come to an end, had not death 
overtaken the bold Goth in the midst of his conquests. His 
brother-in-law, Adolphus, who succeeded him, had neither his 
talents nor his ambition. After exhausting Southern Italy by 
plunder and ravage for the space of two years, he made peace 
with Honorius, accepted his sister, Placidia, in marriage, and 
withdrew his army from Italy into Gaul, A.D. 412. 

Nor were the sack of Rome and the devastation of Italy by 
the Goths the only calamities which afflicted the empire during 
this miserable period. The invasion of the combined Vandals, 
Suevi, Burgundians, and Alani, under Rhadagaisus (A.D. 405), 
which carried fire and sword over the regions between the Alps 
and the Arno, would have been regarded as a misfortune of the 
first magnitude, if it had not been thrown into the shade by 
the more terrible visitation of the Goths. Stilicho, indeed, with 
consummate generalship, defeated this formidable host, slew 
Rhadagaisus, and forced the remainder of his army to retire. 
Italy, after suffering ravage through its whole extent from the 
wild and savage hordes of Sarmatia and Germany, was by the 
year A.D. 412 cleared of all its invaders, and was once more 
ruled in peace by the son of Theodosius. But, if no worse 
calamity than utter exhaustion was inflicted on the centre of 
the empire, a sadder fate began to overtake the extremities, 
from which Rome withdrew her protection, or which were torn 
from her by the barbarians. The remnant of the host of Rha- 
dagaisus, Vandals, Burgundians, and others, after quitting 
Italy, passed into Gaul (A.D. 406), overran the region between 
the Rhine and the Pyrenees, and took possession of a broad 
tract which became known as " Burgundy." Passing thence 
into Spain, they carried all before them, spreading themselves 
over the entire peninsula from the Pyrenees to the straits of 
Gibraltar. In Southern Gaul and Spain they were shortly fol- 
lowed by the Goths, who, under Adolphus, crossed the moun- 
tains, drove the Vandals into Gallicia and Baetica (thence called 



ANCIENT HISTORY 465 

Vandalusia or Andalusia), and established in Spain and Aqui- 
taine the " Kingdom of the Visigoths," which, although for 
a time (A.D. 414 to 418) nominally subject to Rome, became 
under Theodoric I. (A.D. 418) completely independent. About 
the same time Britain was finally cut adrift from the empire. 
In Gaul the Franks followed the example of the Burgundians, 
and, crossing the Lower Rhine, established themselves in the 
region about Cologne and Treves. Thus almost the whole of 
the prcrfcctura Galliarmn passed out of the hands of the Romans, 
who retained nothing west of the Alps but the province of 
Gallia Lugdunensis. 

It is not surprising that during this troublous period Hono- 
rius found his right to the throne disputed by pretenders. Be- 
sides Attains there arose in Africa a Moorish usurper, named 
Gildo, who assumed the government of the " Five Provinces," 
A.D. 398, but was defeated by the Romans under Mascezel, 
Gildo's brother. In Britain a Constantine was proclaimed 
emperor, A.D. 407, who associated on the throne his son, Con- 
stans, and extended his dominion at one time (A.D. 408 to 
409) over the greater portion of Gaul and Spain ; but after 
the revolt of his general, Gerontius, in the last-named province, 
he was defeated and put to death by Constantius, one of 
Honorius's commanders, A.D. 411. A second revolt occurred 
in Africa under Count Heraclian, A.D. 413. Assuming the 
purple, he ventured to invade Italy, but was defeated in the 
neighborhood of Rome, and, on returning to his province, was 
put to death by his indignant subjects. After the death of 
Constantine, the sovereignty of Roman Gaul was assumed 
by Jovinus, A.D. 412, who associated on the throne his brother, 
Sebastian ; but these usurpers were easily put down by the 
Gothic leader, Adolphus, A.D. 413. The latter years of Ho- 
norius (A.D. 413 to 423) were free from troubles of this kind. 
The weak prince strengthened himself by marrying his sister, 
Placidia, the widow of the Gothic chief, Adolphus, to Constan- 
tius, his successful general, and associating the latter in the 
government, A.D. 421. Constantius, however, reigned only 
seven months, and he was soon followed to the tomb by his 
unhappy colleague, who died of a dropsy, August 27, A.D. 
423, without making any arrangements for the succession. 
30 



466 RAWLINSON 

The vacant throne was seized by John, principal secretary 
of the late emperor; but Theodosius 11. , who had succeeded 
his father, Arcadius, in the Empire of the East, refused to ac- 
knowledge the usurper, and claimed the throne for his infant 
nephew, Valentinian, the son of Constantius and Placidia. A 
naval and military expedition, which he sent to Italy, was at 
first unsuccessful ; but, after a while, signs of disaffection ap- 
peared among the Italian soldiers, who preferred a monarch 
descended from the great Theodosius to an unknown upstart. 
Treachery opened the gates of Ravenna to the Eastern army, 
and John, delivered into the hands of his enemies, was be- 
headed at Aquileia, A.D. 425. 

The nephew of Honorius, who was now raised to the throne, 
was a child of no more than six years of age. He was therefore 
placed under the guardianship of his mother, Placidia, who 
administered the empire from A.D. 425 to 450. The govern- 
ment of an infant and a woman was ill suited for a kingdom 
placed in desperate circumstances, and precipitated the ruin 
which had long been visibly impending. The jealousy felt by 
the general Aetius towards Boniface, Count of Africa, and the 
unworthy treatment of the latter, drove him into rebellion, 
induced him to invite over the Vandals from Spain, A.D. 428, 
and led to the loss of the African diocese, and the establish- 
ment of a Vandal kingdom in that region by the renowned 
Genseric, A.D. 429 to 439. Family arrangements connected 
with the betrothment of Valentinian to Eudoxia, daughter 
of Theodosius II., had even before this (A.D. 425) detached 
from the West and made over to the East the provinces of 
Pannonia, Noricum, and Dalmatia. Excepting for some pre- 
carious possessions in Gaul and Spain, the Western Empire 
was now confined to the three countries of Vindelicia, Rhse- 
tia, and Italy. The sword of Aetius maintained with tolerable 
success the dimensions of Roman Gaul against the attacks, 
from opposite sides, of the Visigoths and the Franks, A.D. 
435 to 450 ; but his contest with the latter brought into the 
field a new foe, the terrible Attila, king of the Huns, who, 
professing to embrace the cause of a fugitive Prankish king, 
crossed the Rhine into Gaul at the head of a vast army, and 
spread devastation far and wide over the country. The Ro- 



ANCIENT HISTORY 467 

mans and Visigoths were forced into a temporary alliance, and 
united their arms against the Scyth. On the field of Chalons 
the question was tried and determined (A.D. 451), whether the 
predominance of power in Western Europe was to fall to the 
Tatars or to the Teutons, to a savage race, heathen, anarchical, 
and destructive, or to one which had embraced Christianity, 
which had aptitudes for organization and law, and could con- 
struct as well as destroy. The decision was, fortunately, in 
favor of the Teutons. Attila retreated beyond the Rhine ; and 
although in A.D. 452 he endeavored to retrieve his failure, 
invading Italy, and spreading desolation over the whole plain 
of the Po, yet it was only to retreat once more to his palace in 
the wilds of Hungary. The year following, A.D. 453, he burst 
a blood-vessel, and died suddenly ; and the West was delivered 
from all peril of becoming the prey of Tatar hordes. Two 
years later, Valentinian also lost his life, being murdered, A.D. 
455, by Maximus, whose wife he had dishonored, and the 
retainers of Aetius, whom, on grounds of suspicion, he had 
executed. 

Maximus, the murderer of Valentinian III., succeeded him 
as emperor, but reigned less than three months (March 16 
to June 12, A.D. 455). Anxious to strengthen his hold upon 
the throne by connecting himself with the royal house of Theo- 
dosius, he married his son, Palladius, to the daughter of Valen- 
tinian, and forced Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, and daughter 
of Theodosius II., to become his wife. The outraged matron 
implored the aid of Genseric, whose fleet commanded the Med- 
iterranean ; and the bold Vandal, greedy after the spoil of 
Italy, readily responded to her call. His landing at Ostia was 
the signal for the Romans to rise against their sovereign, in 
whom they saw the author of their calamities ; but the murder 
of the Roman emperor failed to propitiate the Vandalic king, 
whose mind was intent upon plunder. Despite the intercession 
of Pope Leo, Genseric entered Rome with his troops, and gave 
it up to them to pillage for fourteen days. Whatever Attila had 
left was now carried off. Eudoxia and her two daughters were 
made prisoners and borne away to Carthage. Even the 
churches were not spared. All that yet remained in Rome 
of public or private wealth, of sacred or profane treasure, 



468 RAWLINSON 

was transported to the vessels of Genseric, and removed to 
Africa. 

This terrible calamity so paralyzed the Romans, that they 
appointed no emperor in the place of Maximus. When, how- 
ever, the news that the throne was vacant reached Gaul, Avitus, 
the commander of the legions there, induced his soldiers to 
proclaim him ; and, as he was supported by the Visigoths of 
Western Gaul and Spain, Rome and Italy for a brief space 
acknowledged him as their sovereign. But Italian pride chafed 
against the imposition of a monarch from without ; and Count 
Ricimer, a Goth, who commanded the foreign troops in the 
pay of Rome, disliked the rule of an emperor in whose appoint- 
ment he had had no hand. Avitus was therefore required to 
abdicate, after he had held the throne a little more than a year ; 
he consented, and, laying aside the imperial office, became 
Bishop of Placentia, but died within a few months of his ab- 
dication, whether by disease or violence is uncertain. 

It was evidently the wish of Count Ricimer to assume the 
crown which he had forced Avitus to resign ; but he saw that 
Rome was not yet prepared to submit herself to the rule of 
a barbarian, and he therefore, after an interval of six months, 
placed an emperor on the throne in the person of Majorian, 
who ruled well for four years, from A.D. 457 to 461. Majorian, 
who was a man of talent and character, addressed himself espe- 
cially to the struggle with the Vandals of Africa, whose con- 
stant depredations deprived Italy of repose. Not content with 
chastising the disorderly bands which ravaged his coasts, he 
prepared to invade the territory of Genseric with a fleet and 
army. These were collected at the Spanish port of Carthagena ; 
but the emissaries of Genseric secretly destroyed the fleet ; and 
Majorian, having returned to Italy, was, like Avitus, forced to 
abdicate, Count Ricimer being jealous of his protege, and de- 
sirous of appointing an emperor of inferior ability. 

The imperial title and ensigns were now conferred on a 
puppet named Severus, who served as a convenient screen, 
behind which Count Ricimer concealed the authority which 
he himself really wielded. But Severus dying at the end of 
four years, A.D. 465, Ricimer at length felt himself sufficiently 
strong to take openly the sole and entire direction of the affairs 



ANCIENT HISTORY 469 

of Italy. He respected Roman prejudices, however, so far as 
to abstain from the assumption of the imperial name. His 
position was a difficult one, for the Emperor of the East looked 
coldly on him, while he was exposed to constant attack from 
the powerful fleets of Genseric and Marcellinus, the sovereigns 
of Africa and Dalmatia, and had further to fear the hostility 
of ^gidius, Roman commander in Gaul, who refused to ac- 
knowledge his authority. The peril of his situation compelled 
him, two years after the death of Severus, A.D. 467, to apply 
for aid to the Eastern emperor, Leo, and to accept the terms 
on which that prince was willing to succor him. The terms 
were galling to his pride. Italy was required by Leo to submit 
to a sovereign of his choice, which fell on Anthemius, a Byzan- 
tine nobleman of distinction. 

The establishment of Anthemius as " Emperor of the West " 
was followed by a serious effort against the terrible Vandals, 
who were now the enemy from whom Italy suffered the most. 
Alliance was made between Leo, Anthemius, and Marcellinus ; 
and while the Dalmatian fleet protected Italy and retook Sar- 
dinia, two great expeditions were directed by the Eastern em- 
peror upon Carthage, A.D. 468. One of these, starting from 
Egypt, attacked Tripoli, surprised the cities of that province, 
and proceeded along the coast westward. The other, which 
consisted of 11 13 ships, having on board 100,000 men, was 
directed upon Cape Bona, about forty miles from Carthage, 
and should at once have laid siege to the town. But Basiliscus, 
the commander, allowed himself to be amused by negotiations 
while the cunning Genseric made preparations for the destruc- 
tion of the fleet, which he accomplished by means of fire-ships, 
thus entirely frustrating the attack. The remnant of the expe- 
dition withdrew; Genseric recovered Sardinia, and shortly 
afterwards established his power over Sicily, thus obtaining 
a position from which he menaced Italy more than ever before. 
But the " Empire," as it was still called, was to be subverted, 
not by its external, but its internal foes. Though Ricimer had 
consented to the nomination of Anthemius as emperor, and 
had bound himself to his cause by accepting his daughter in 
marriage, yet it was not long before discord and jealousy sepa- 
rated the professed friends. As Anthemius had fixed his court 



470 



RAWLINSON 



at Rome, Ricimer retired to Milan, whence he could readily 
correspond with the barbarians of Spain, Gaul, and Pannonia. 
Having collected a considerable army, he marched to the gates 
of Rome, proclaimed Olybrius, the husband of Placidia (young- 
est daughter of Valentinian III.), emperor, and, forcing his 
way into the city, slew Anthemius, and established Olybrius 
upon the throne (July ii, A.D. 472). 

The Western Empire had now, in the space of sixteen years, 
experienced the rule of six dififerent sovereigns. In the four 
years of continued existence which still remained to it, four 
other " emperors " were about to hold the sceptre. The first 
of these, Olybrius, retained his authority for little more than 
three months, ascending the throne, July 11, and dying by 
a natural death, October 23. The chief event of his reign was 
the death of Count Ricimer, who expired forty days after his 
capture of Rome, August 20, leaving the command of his army 
to his nephew, Gundobad, a Burgundian. Gundobad gave 
the purple, in A.D. 473, to Glycerins, an obscure soldier; but 
the Eastern emperor, Leo, interposed for the second time, and 
assigned the throne to Julius Nepos, the nephew of Marcelli- 
nus, and his successor in the sovereignty of Dalmatia. Nepos 
easily prevailed over Glycerins, who exchanged his imperial 
dignity, A.D. 474, for the bishopric of Salona; but the new 
emperor was scarcely settled upon the throne, when the bar- 
barian mercenaries, who were now all-powerful in Italy, re- 
volted under the patrician Orestes, A.D. 475, and invested with 
the purple his son, Romulus Augustus, called, by way of con- 
tempt, " Augustulus." Augustulus, the last of the Western 
emperors, reigned less than a year (October 31, A.D. 475 to 
August 23, A.D. 476). The mercenaries, shortly after his ac- 
cession, demanded one-third of the lands of Italy, and, when 
their demand was refused, took arms under the command of 
their German chief, Odoacer, slew Orestes, the Emperor's 
father, and deprived Augustulus of his sovereignty. The dig- 
nity of Emperor of the West was then formally abolished ; and 
Odoacer ascended the throne as the first barbarian " King 
of Italy." 

The history of the Western Roman Empire here terminates. 
The Empire had endured 507 years (B.C. 31 to A.D. 476), 



ANCIENT HISTORY 471 

under seventy-seven princes. Attaining its greatest magnitude 
in the reign of Trajan, when it extended from the Pillars of 
Hercules and the Friths of Forth and Clyde to the Caspian 
and the Persian Gulf, it had gradually broken up and con- 
tracted its limits, until it had come to be almost confined to 
Italy. Its ruin had been caused partly by internal decay, but 
mainly through the repeated invasions of vast hordes of bar- 
barians. Goths, Vandals, Huns, Burgundians, Suevi, Alani, 
Alemanni, Franks, Heruli had precipitated themselves in a 
ceaseless succession on the regions which Roman civilization 
had turned into gardens, and poured in a resistless torrent over 
province after province. The force of the attack fell mainly 
upon the West. After the first rush of the Goths across the 
Lower Danube, in the time of Valens, the tide of migration 
took wholly a westerly course. Pannonia, Spain, Africa, most 
of Gaul, were occupied by the invaders. Italy attracted each 
more powerful spoiler, and host after host desolated its fertile 
plains. Rome herself was taken repeatedly, and was sacked 
twice, by Alaric and by Genseric. She felt that she needed 
all her resources for her own defence, and was therefore obliged 
to relinquish such outlying provinces as no foe had captured. 
Hence, Britain, parts of Gaul, Vindelicia, and probably Rhsetia, 
were abandoned: Pannonia, Noricum, and Dalmatia were 
parted with; at 'last, nothing remained but Italy; and Italy 
could not undertake to defend herself. Her rulers had long 
ceased to put any trust in Italian soldiers, and had drawn their 
recruits from the outlying provinces rather than from the heart 
of the empire. Finally, they had thought it excellent strategy 
to take the barbarians themselves into pay, and to fight Huns 
with Goths, and Goths with Burgundians or Vandals. But this 
policy at last proved fatal. The barbarians, perceiving their 
strength, determined to exert it, and to have Italy for them- 
selves. It was more pleasant to be masters than servants. The 
imperial power had in fact been long existing upon sufferance ; 
the edifice was without due support, and it only needed the 
touch of a finger to make it fall. What Odoacer did, Ricimer 
might have done with as much ease ; but the facility of an 
enterprise is not always apparent beforehand. 



PART IL— HISTORY OF PARTHIA. 

GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF THE PARTHIAN 

EMPIRE. 

The Parthian Empire at its greatest extent comprised the 
countries between the Euphrates and the Indus, reaching 
northward as far as the Araxes, the Caspian, and the Lower 
Oxus, and southward to the Persian Gulf and the Indian 
Ocean. It thus covered, in the main, the same ground with 
the Persian empire of Cyrus and with the original kingdom 
of the Seleucidae ; but it was less extensive than either of those 
great monarchies. It did not include Syria, or Phoenicia, or 
Palestine, or Armenia, or any portion of Asia Minor, nor does 
it seem to have comprised the valley of the Upper Oxus, much 
less that of the Jaxartes. Its greatest length, between the Eu- 
phrates and the Indus, may be estimated at about one thousand 
nine hundred miles, while its greatest width, between the 
Lower Oxus and the Indian Ocean, may have equalled, or 
a little exceeded, a thousand miles. Its area cannot have fallen 
much short of a million square miles. 

But of this vast space a very large proportion was scarcely 
habitable. The Mesopotamian, Persian, Kharesmian, Gedro- 
sian, and Carmanian deserts occupy at least one-half of the 
region between the Euphrates and the Indus ; and, though not 
absolutely incapable of supporting human life, these tracts can 
at the best sustain a very sparse and scanty population. Such 
possessions add but little to the strength of the empire which 
comprises them, and thus may be omitted from consideration 
when we seek to form an estimate of its power and resources. 
About half a million square miles remain when we have de- 
ducted the deserts; an area only one-third of that of Rome, 
but still very much larger than that of any modern European 
state excepting Russia. 

472 



ANCIENT HISTORY 473 

The Parthian Empire was, Hke most others, divided into 
provinces. Of these the most important were, in the west, 
Mesopotamia and Babylonia ; in the mid-region, Atropatene, 
Media, Assyria, Susiana, and Persia; towards the east, Par- 
thyene or Parthia Proper, Hyrcania, Margiana, Aria, Zarangia, 
Carmania, Sacastane, Arachosia, and Gedrosia. Other minor 
divisions were Chalonitis, Cambadene, Mesene, Rhagiana, 
Choarene, Comisene, Artacene, Apavarcticene, etc. It will be 
observed that the main provinces were for the most part iden- 
tical, in name at any rate, with provinces of the old Persian 
Empire, already described in this work. As, however, even 
in provinces of this class certain changes have often to be 
noted in respect of boundaries, or principal towns, it seems 
best to run briefly through the entire list. 

Mesopotamia. — The name of Mesopotamia was applied by 
the Parthians, not to the whole region between the Tigris and 
Euphrates rivers, but only to the upper portion of it — the tract 
bounded on the north by the Mons Masius, and on the south by 
a canal uniting the two streams a little above the 33d parallel. 
Its chief cities were Anthemusia, Nicephorium, Carrhse, Euro- 
pus, Nisibis, and Hatra. 

Babylonia lay below Mesopotamia, extending to the conflu- 
ence of the Euphrates and Tigris, and including a tract of 
considerable size and importance on the right bank of the 
former river. Its chief towns were Seleuceia on the Tigris, 
Babylon, Borsippa, and Vologesia. 

Mesene, called also Characene, was the tract below Baby- 
lonia, reaching to the shores of the Persian Gulf. Its capital 
was Charax Spasini, at the confluence, probably, of the Kuran 
with the Euphrates. The only other city of any importance 
was Teredon or Diridotis, on the Gulf, at the mouth of the 
Euphrates. Mesene was famous for its thick groves of palm- 
trees. 

Susiana had nearly its old boundaries and dimensions. Its 
chief cities were Susa and Badaca. 

Assyria, according to the nomenclature of the Parthian 
period, designated a tract which lay wholly to the east of the 
Tigris, extending from Armenia on the north to Susiana on the 
south, and interposed between Mesopotamia and Media 



474 



RAWLINSON 



Magna. It was divided into numerous districts, among which 
the most important were Cordyene (the country of the Kurds) 
in the north, Adiabene, the tract about the two Zab rivers, 
Arbehtis, the region about Arbela, Chalonitis, the country 
about Holwan, and Apolloniatis or Sittacene, the tract upon 
the lower course of the Diyaleh river. In this district was 
situated Ctesiphon, the capital of the whole empire. Other 
important towns were Arbela, the capital of Arbelitis, Apol- 
lonia, the old capital of Apolloniatis, and Artemita, in the same 
region, which became under the Parthians, Chalasar. 

Atropatene lay between the northern part of Assyria (Cor- 
dyene) and the western shore of the Caspian, thus correspond- 
ing nearly to the modern Azerbijan. Its chief city was Gaza 
or Gazaca (afterwards Canzaca), now Tahkt-i-Suleiman. Atro- 
patene was not so absolutely a part of the Parthian Empire 
as most of the other provinces. It was a fief over which the 
Parthian monarch claimed a sort of feudal supremacy; but 
was governed by its own princes, who were sometimes not 
even appointed by the Parthian king. 

Media lay south and south-east of Atropatene, extending 
from the Kizil Uzen and the Caspian on the north, to about 
the 32d parallel towards the south, where it adjoined on Susiana 
and Persia. It contained several districts, of which the chief 
were Media Inferior, Media Superior, Cambadene, and Rha- 
giana. The chief towns were Ecbatana (now Hamadan), Ba- 
gistana (Behistun), Concobar (Kungawur), Aspadana (Isfa- 
han), Phages or Europus (Kaleh Erij), and Charax. 

Persia, like Susiana, retained its old dimensions and boun- 
daries, except that it had ceased to be regarded as comprising 
Carmania, which was reckoned a distinct country. After the 
destruction of Persepolis by Alexander, Pasargadse seems to 
have been the chief city. 

Carmania adjoined Persia upon the east. It extended from 
the Persian Gulf to about the 33d parallel, thus including a 
large portion of the desert of Iran. The chief town was Car- 
mana (now Kerman). 

Parthyene, or Parthia Proper, lay north of Carmania and 
west of Media Magna. It comprised the old country of the 
name, together with most of the desert which in early times 



ANCIENT HISTORY 475 

was known as Sagartia. Among its subdivisions were Choa- 
rene, Comisene, Artacene, Tabiene, etc. The capital city was 
Hecatompylus. Other important towns were Apameia in 
Choarene, near the Caspian Gates, and Parthaunisa, or Nisaea 
(Nishapur). 

Hyrcania was north of Parthia, being the tract at the south- 
eastern corner of the Caspian, along the course of the river 
Gurgan, Its chief cities were Syrinx, Tape, on the shore of 
the Caspian, Carta (perhaps the earlier Zadracarta), Talabroce, 
and Samariane. 

Margiana was situated east and north-east of Parthia and 
Hyrcania, in the low plain between the Elburz range and the 
Sea of Aral. It lay along the course of the river Margus (now 
the Murg-ab). The only city in Parthian times was Anti- 
ocheia (Merv?). 

Aria included the district which bore the same name under 
the Persians, but comprised also the tract between Herat and 
the Hamoon or Sea of Seistan. Its chief city was Artacoana 
(Herat). Other towns of some consequence were Phra (Fur- 
rah), Gari (Girisk), and Bis (Bist). 

Zarangia, or Drangiana, had come to be used in a narrower 
acceptation than the ancient one. It was now only a small 
tract close upon the Hamoon, the district upon the Haroot- 
rud and Furrah-rud being reckoned to Aria, and that on the 
Lower Helmend being separated ofif, and forming the new 
province of Sacastane. The chief town of Zarangia was Proph- 
thasia. 

Sacastane lay south of Zarangia, corresponding to the Seges- 
tan of the Arabian geographers, which is now know as Seistan. 
Its chief cities were Sigal and Alexandropolis. Sacastane (i. e., 
the land of Sacae) had probably been occupied by a colony of 
Scyths in the interval between Alexander's conquests and the 
formation of the Parthian Empire. 

Arachosia (or " White India," as the Parthians called it) 
seems to have been identical with the country known by the 
same name to the Persians. It lay east of Sacastane, and cor- 
responded nearly with the modern Kandahar. The capital was 
Alexandropolis, on the Arachotus (Arghand-ab). Its other 
chief cities were Demetrias, Pharsana, and Parabeste. 



476 RAWLINSON 

Gedrosia retained in the main its ancient limits, which were 
nearly those of the modern Beluchistan. It was, however, 
perhaps somewhat encroached upon towards the north by 
Sacastane. The province lay south of this tract and of Ara- 
chosia and east of Carmania. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PARTHIAN 
EMPIRE. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

From the Foundation of the Kingdom, about B.C. 255, to the 
Creation of the Empire by Mithridates or Arsaces VI., 
about B.C. 174.* 

Parthia, which, in the earlier times of the Persian monarchy, 
formed a portion only of a large satrapy extending from the 

* Sources. The sources for the history of Parthia are scanty and 
scattered. Of native sources, we possess only a very incomplete series 
of coins, generally without dates and without the special name of the 
king; and a few mutilated inscriptions. No classical author, so far 
as we know, ever treated of the history of Parthia as a whole; and 
few ever made Parthian history, in any of its portions, even a special 
subject of attention. Arrian's " Parthica " was a mere account of the 
Parthian War of Trajan, written from a Roman point of view; and of 
this work there only remain about twenty short fragments. (See the 
fragments collected in C. Miiller's " Fragmenta Hist. Graecorum," vol. 
iii., pp. 586-591.) Strabo's account of the Parthian manners and cus- 
toms in the sixth book of his " Historical Memoirs," and the second 
book of his " Continuation of Polybius," would have been most inter- 
esting; but these works have wholly perished. The extant writer 
who tells us most about the Parthians is Justin; but this careless his- 
torian has most imperfectly reported his authority, Trogus Pompeius, 
and needs perpetual correction. For the earlier history we are reduced 
to scattered notices in Strabo, Arrian, Justin, Polybius, Lucian, and 
Phlegon of Tralles; for the middle portion, from the time of Phraates 
III. to Vonones I., we have Appian in his " Mithridatica " and 
" Syriaca," Justin, Plutarch in his " Lives " of Lucullus, Pompey, 
Crassus, and Antony, Josephus in his " Antiquitates Judaicse," and Dio 
Cassius (bks. xxxv., Iv.) ; for the later history, from Vonones to the de- 
struction of the monarchy, our authorities are Tacitus in his " Annals," 
Josephus, Suetonius, Herodian, the " Historiae Augustae Scriptores," 
and, above all, Dio (bks. Ivi.-lxxviii.). 



ANCIENT HISTORY 477 

Iranic desert to the Jaxartes, and from the Caspian to Samar- 
cand, appears towards the close of the Persian period to have 
constituted a satrapy by itself (or with the mere addition of 
Hyrcania), in which condition it was continued by the suc- 
cessors of Alexander. Tranquillity was preserved till about 
B.C. 255, when the weakness of Antiochus Theus, and the 
success of the Bactrian rebellion, encouraged the Parthians 
to rise against their Greek masters, and to declare themselves 
an independent people. Their leader in the revolt was a certain 
Arsaces. This person was the commander of a body of Scy- 
thian Dahae from the banks of the Ochus, who migrated into 
Parthia, and obtaining the ascendency in the country, raised 
their general to the position of king. There was, probably, 
sufficient affinity between the immigrant Dahse and the pre- 
vious inhabitants of the region for the two races readily to 
coalesce ; both appear to have been Turanian ; and the Dahae 
were so completely absorbed that we hear nothing of them 
in the subsequent history. The names of " Parthia " and " Par- 
thian " prevailed ; and the whole nation presents to us one 
uniform type. 

This type is one of a low and coarse character. The man- 
ners of the Parthians, even at the height of their power, had 
a tinge of Tatar barbarism. Their mimetic art was rude, com- 
pared, not only with that of the Greeks, but even of the Per- 
sians. In their architecture they imitated the heavy and mas- 
sive constructions of the Babylonians. Their appearance was 
repulsive. They were treacherous in war, indolent and unre- 
fined in peace. Still they possessed qualities which fitted them 
to become a ruling nation. They were brave, enterprising, 
and fond of war ; while they had also a certain talent for organ- 
ization and administration. They are not ill-represented by 
the modern Turks, who are allied to them in race, and rule 
over some of the same countries. 

Arsaces, the first king, reigned, we are told, only two years, 
probably from B.C. 255 to 253. He occupied himself chiefly 
in consolidating his dominion over the Parthians themselves, 
many of whom resisted his authority. Antiochus Theus, whose 
rule he had subverted, seems to have made no effort to recover 
his hold on Parthia, being too much engaged in his war with 



478 RAWLINSON 

Ptolemy Philadelphus. Arsaces, however, appears to have 
fallen in battle. 

The first Arsaces was succeeded by his brother, Teridates, 
who had assisted him in his original revolt. He took the title 
of Arsaces after his brother's death ; and the practice thus 
begun passed into a custom, which continued to the very close 
of the empire. Teridates, or Arsaces II., reigned thirty-seven 
years, from B.C. 253 to 216. He made himself master of Hyr- 
cania, probably about B.C. 240, thereby drawing upon himself 
the hostility both of Seleucus Callinicus, whom he deprived of 
a province, and of Diodotus I. of Bactria, who became alarmed 
at the increasing power of his neighbor. Callinicus and Di- 
odotus, accordingly, made common cause ; and the former led 
an expedition against Teridates, B.C. 237, which alarmed him 
so that at first he fled from Parthia into Scythia. Diodotus I., 
however, dying and being succeeded by his son, Diodotus II., 
Teridates found a means of breaking up the alliance, and drew 
over the Bactrian prince to his side. A great battle followed ; 
and, Callinicus being signally defeated, Parthian independence 
was regarded as at length fully established. 

Teridates was succeeded by a son, whose real name is un- 
known, but who reigned as Arsaces HI. Pursuing the ag- 
gressive policy of his father, he overran Eastern Media, and 
threatened to conquer the entire province, about B.C. 214. 
Antiochus the Great, upon this, marched against him (B.C. 
213), drove his troops from Media, took his capital, Hecatom- 
pylus, and pursuing him into Hyrcania, there brought him 
to an engagement, the issue of which was doubtful. Arsaces 
greatly distinguished himself ; and the Syrian monarch, finding 
the conquest of the new kingdom impossible, came to terms 
with his foe, confirming him in the possession of both Parthia 
and Hyrcania, but probably requiring him to furnish a con- 
tingent to his projected Eastern expedition, B.C. 206. It is un- 
certain how long Arsaces III. lived after this ; but the best 
authorities assign him a reign of about twenty years — from 
B.C. 216 to 196. 

Priapatius (Arsaces IV.) now became king, and reigned for 
fifteen years — from about B.C. 196 to 181. He appears to 
have been an unwarlike prince, and to have been content with 



ANCIENT HISTORY 479 

maintaining, without any attempt to extend, his dominions. 
The Bactrian monarchs of this period were aggressive and 
powerful, which may in part account for this pause in the 
Parthian conquests. Priapatius left two sons, Phraates and 
Mithridates, the former of whom succeeded him. 

Phraates I. (Arsaces V.) had a short reign, probably from 
about B.C. 181 to 174. Nothing is known of him excepting 
that he extended his dominions by the conquest of the Mardi, 
one of the most powerful tribes of the Elburz, and, though he 
had many children, left his crown to his brother, Mithridates, 
whom he regarded as peculiarly fitted for the kingly ofitice. 
Mithridates justified this opinion by the extensive conquests 
of which an account will be given in the next section. He 
transformed the small kingdom which he received from Phraa- 
tes into a vast and flourishing empire, and established the gov- 
ernmental system on which that empire was thenceforth ad- 
ministered. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

From the Foundation of the Empire by Mithridates I., about 
B.C. 174, to the Commencement of the Wars with the 
Romans, B.C. 54. 

The Parthian dominion had hitherto been confined to a com- 
paratively narrow territory between the Caspian Gates on the 
one hand and the districts of Aria (Herat) and Margiana (Merv) 
upon the other. The neighboring Bactria, with its Greek 
princes and its semi-Greek civilization, had been a far more 
powerful state, and had probably acted as a constant check upon 
the aspirations of its weaker sister. Conscious of their weak- 
ness, the Parthian monarchs had cultivated good relations with 
the Bactrians ; and, so far as appears, no war had hitherto broken 
out between the conterminous powers. But with the accession 
of Mithridates I. (Arsaces VI.) this state of things came to an 
end. The Bactrian princes were about this time directing their 
arms towards the East, bent on establishing their authority in 
Afghanistan and North-western India. It would seem that 
while their main strength was employed in this quarter, the 
provinces nearer home were left without adequate defence, and 



48o RAWLINSON 

tempted the cupidity of the Parthians. Mithridates I., who 
was contemporary with Eucratides of Bactria, began aggres- 
sions on the Bactrian kingdom, probably soon after his acces- 
sion. Success attended his efforts, and he deprived Eucratides 
of at least two provinces. A few years later, on the death of 
Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 164, he turned his arms against 
the West. After a protracted struggle, he succeeded in reduc- 
ing Media to obedience. He then conquered Susiana, Persia, 
and Babylonia, extending his dominion on this side as far as 
the lower course of the Euphrates. Nor did these gains content 
him. After the death of Eucratides (about B.C. 160), he re- 
sumed his war with the Bactrians, and completely destroyed 
their kingdom. In vain did these unfortunately isolated Greeks 
implore the help of their Syrian brethren. Demetrius Nicator, 
who in B.C. 140 endeavored to relieve them, was defeated and 
made prisoner by Mithridates, who retained him in captivity 
till his own death, about B.C. 136. 

The satrapial system, which had been introduced by the 
Persians, and continued by Alexander and his successors, was 
not that adopted by Mithridates in the organization of his 
empire. On the contrary, he reverted to the older and simpler 
plan, which prev-^^if^d in the East before the rise of the Persians 
to power. Thib »vds to allow each nation to have its own 
native king, its own laws and usages, and simply to require the 
subjection of all these monarchs to the chief of the ruling 
nation as lord paramount, or feudal head. Hence the title 
" King of Kings," so common on the Parthian coins from the 
time of Mithridates. Each " king " was bound to furnish a 
contingent of troops when required, and likewise an annual 
tribute; but otherwise they were independent. 

The constitution under which the Parthians themselves were 
ruled was a kind of limited monarchy. The king was perma- 
nently advised by two councils, one consisting of the members 
of his own royal house, the other of the great men {fi€yc(TTdv€<i), 
comprising both the temporal and spiritual chiefs of the nation 
(the aocpol and the fidyoi). The monarchy was elective, the 
kings, however, being necessarily taken from the family of the 
Arsacidse. When the niegistancs had nominated a monarch, 
the right of placing the diadem on his head belonged to the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 481 

surena, or field-marshal. The mcgistancs claimed a right to 
depose a monarch who displeased them ; but any attempt to 
exercise this privilege was sure to lead to a civil war, and it 
was force, not law, which determined whether the prince should 
retain or forfeit his crown. 

The Parthians aflfected, in the main, Persian customs. The 
same state and dignity were maintained by the Arsacidae as 
by the Achsemenidae. The Court migrated at dififerent seasons 
of the year to Ctcsiphon, Ecbatana, and Hyrcania. Polygamy 
was practised on a large scale, not only by the monarch, but 
by the nobles. Luxury, however, was at no time carried to 
the same extent by the Parthians as it had been by the Per- 
sians ; the former continued to the last a rude, coarse, vigorous 
people. In some few respects they adopted Greek manners, 
as in the character of their coins and the legends upon them, 
which are Greek from first to last, and evidently imitated from 
the coins of the Seleucidse. Their mimetic art shows also 
Grecian influences; but it never attained to any high degree 
of excellence. 

The founder of the Empire, Mithridates I., was succeeded 
upon the throne by his son, Phraates II., who is known as 
Arsaces VII., and reigned about nine or ten vears, from about 
B.C. 136 to 127. The earlier part of his .. ^a seems to have 
been quiet and peaceful ; but about B.C. 129, Antiochus Si- 
detes, who reigned over Syria, undertook an expedition to the 
East for the purpose of releasing his brother Demetrius, and 
humbling the pride of the Parthians. Success at first attended 
his efforts. Phraates was defeated in three battles, and Baby- 
lonia was recovered by the Syrians. A general disposition to 
revolt showed itself among the Parthian feudatories. Phraates, 
reduced to straits, released Demetrius and sent him into Syria, 
while at the same time he invoked the aid of the Turanian 
hordes who bordered his northern frontier. Before these allies, 
however, could arrive, he had brought the Syrian monarch 
into difficulties, attacked and overpowered his army in its win- 
ter-quarters, and slain Sidetes himself in a battle. He now 
determined to invade Syria ; but the Turanians, whose aid he 
had invoked, discontented with their treatment, attacked him. 
A war with these nomads followed, in which Phraates was 
31 



482 RAWLINSON 

unsuccessful. His army, composed in part of captured Greeks, 
played him false ; and he himself fell in the fight, about B.C. 127. 

On the death of Phraates II., his uncle, Artabanus, was 
placed upon the throne. The Syrian wars now entirely ceased, 
no efifort being made by the Seleucidae, after the death of Si- 
detes, to recover their Eastern provinces. But the place of this 
enemy was taken by one more formidable. The Turanian races 
of the tract beyond the Oxus had been long increasing in 
power. Their incursions across the river, in some of which 
they reached Hyrcania and Parthia Proper, were constant. 
We have seen that Phraates II., alarmed at the attack of 
Sidetes, called them in to his aid, and afterwards lost his life 
in a war with them. The same fate befell his successor. In 
an engagement with a Turanian tribe called Tochari, he re- 
ceived a wound in his arm, from the effects of which he died, 
about B.C. 124. 

Artabanus was succeeded by his son, Mithridates II., who 
is known as Arsaces IX. He was a warlike and powerful 
prince, whose achievements procured him the epithet of " the 
Great." He effectually quelled the spirit of the northern 
nomads, whom he defeated in several engagements ; and, in 
a long series of wars, he extended the Parthian power in many 
directions. At length he engaged in a contest with the Ar- 
menian king, Ortoadistes (Artavasdes ?), who was compelled 
to a disadvantageous peace, for his observance of which he 
gave hostages, among them Tigranes, a prince of the blood 
royal. Tigranes induced the Parthian monarch to aid him 
in gaining the Armenian throne, by undertaking to cede to 
him a part of Armenia; and this cession took place about 
B.C. 96. But here the successes of Mithridates came to an end. 
Tigranes, having become king of Armenia, declared war 
against his benefactor, recovered the ceded territory, invaded 
Parthia itself, conquered Adiabene, and forced the kings of 
Atropatene and Gordyene to become his tributaries, about B.C. 
90 to 87. Soon after this Mithridates seems to have died, after 
a reign which must have exceeded thirty-five years. 

It is uncertain who was the immediate successor of Mith- 
ridates II. The list of Trogus, as reported by Justin, is here 
faulty; and from the incidental notices of other writers, the 



ANCIENT HISTORY 483 

succession of the kings can only be determined conjecturally. 
It is usual to place after Mithridates II. a certain Mnasciras, 
who is mentioned by Lucian as a Parthian monarch. But 
there is no evidence that Mnasciras followed immediately after 
Mithridates II., or even that he reigned at this period. The 
next king whom we can positively place after Mithridates II. 
is Sanatrceces, who mounted the throne about B.C. 76. 

Sanatroeces (Arsaces XL), at the age of eighty, became king 
of Parthia by the assistance of the Sacaraucae, one of the 
Turanian tribes of the north. He reigned seven years only, 
from about B.C. 76 to 69. He was contemporary with Ti- 
granes of Armenia and Mithridates of Pontus, and seems to 
have been engaged in war with the former ; but the particulars 
of this contest are unknown. 

Phraates, son of Sanatroeces, succeeded him, and took the 
title of ©€09 (" God "). Ascending the throne at the moment 
when the Mithridatic War entered on a new phase, the losses 
of the Pontic monarch having forced him to seek a refuge in 
Armenia, and Rome being about to transfer the struggle into 
this quarter, he was naturally drawn into the contest. Both 
sides sought his alliance ; but it was not till Pompey took the 
direction of the war, B.C. 66, that the Parthian monarch de- 
sisted from an attitude of neutrality. He then made an alliance 
with the Romans, and while Pompey pressed Mithridates with 
all his forces, Phraates made an attack upon Tigranes. The 
diversion determined the Mithridatic War in favor of Rome; 
but, as usual, when her object was gained, the great republic 
repaid assistance with ingratitude. Tigranes was, in B.C. 65, 
aided by the Romans against Phraates. The province of 
Gordyene, which Phraates had recovered, was retaken by the 
Romans and assigned to Armenia. It was in vain that the 
Parthian king remonstrated. Pompey was inexorable; and 
Phraates, about B.C. 6;^, came to terms with Tigranes. Shortly 
afterwards (B.C. 60) he died, poisoned, as was reputed, by his 
two sons, Mithridates and Orodes. 

Mithridates, the elder of the two sons of Phraates III., suc- 
ceeded him. Tigranes I. having died in Armenia, and Arta- 
vasdes, his second son, having seized the throne, Mithridates 
became engaged in a war with Armenia on behalf of his 



484 RAWLINSON 

brother-in-law, Tigranes, the eldest son of the late king. His 
efforts, however, were unsuccessful, and had no effect but to 
alienate Artavasdes. After a reign of a few years, Mithridates 
was deposed by the Parthian nobles ; and, though he main- 
tained himself for some considerable time in Babylon, he was 
at last captured and put to death. Orodes, his brother, whom 
the Parthians had made king in his room, succeeded him, 
about B.C. 55. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

From the Commencement of the Wars with Rome, B.C. 54, to 
the Destruction of the Parthian Empire by the Persians, 
A.D. 226. 

The aggressive policy systematically pursued by the Roman 
Republic rendered a war with Parthia the natural sequel to 
the victories over Mithridates and Tigranes. The struggle 
with these princes had revealed to Rome the existence of an 
Oriental power greater and richer than either Pontus or Ar- 
menia; and the jealousy, as well as the cupidity, of the republic 
was stirred by the revelation. No special grounds of complaint 
or quarrel were regarded as necessary before the war could 
be commenced. It was enough that the time had arrived when 
it seemed to be for the interest of Rome to increase her empire 
at the expense of Parthia. War was declared without even 
a pretext, B.C. 55, and in the following year Crassus attacked 
Orodes. 

The immediate result of the disastrous expedition of Crassus 
was the advance of the Parthians across the Euphrates. In 
B.C. 52, and again in the year after, Pacorus, the son of Orodes, 
at the head of a large and well-appointed army, crossed from 
Mesopotamia into Syria, and ravaged the Roman territory 
far and wide. Upper Syria was overrun, Cilicia invaded, An- 
tioch and Antigoneia threatened, the Roman general, Bibulus, 
defeated. Cassius, however, gained certain successes; and 
suspicion having been thrown upon the loyalty of Pacorus, 
Orodes recalled him, and withdrew his troops within the Eu- 
phrates. But eleven years later he made a second advance. 
Once more Pacorus, this time assisted by the Roman refugee. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 485 

Labienus, crossed the Euphrates, B.C. 40, and invaded the 
Syrian presidency. A Roman army, under Decidius Saxa, 
was destroyed; Antioch, Apameia, Sidon, Ptolemais, were 
occupied ; Jerusalem was entered and plundered, and Antig- 
onus set, as Parthian viceroy, upon the throne. The Parthians 
were complete masters of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine ; and 
proceeded to invade Asia Minor, occupying the whole south 
coast, as far as Caria, and sending their plundering bands into 
Ionia and the Roman " Asia." At this point, however, their 
progress was stayed, and reverses began to befall them. Ven- 
tidius defeated and slew Labienus in B.C. 39, and gained a 
similar success over Pacorus in the next year. The Parthians 
retired from Syria, never to reoccupy it, and henceforth were 
content to resist the attacks and aggressions of the Romans. 

The death of Orodes followed closely upon this defeat, B.C. 
37. He either died of grief for the loss of Pacorus, or was 
murdered by Phraates, the son whom he had put forward as 
his successor when he heard of Pacorus's decease. Phraates 
IV. succeeded him, and reigned as Arsaces XV. Against him 
Antony, in B.C. 36, led his great expedition. Once more on 
Parthian soil the Romans were completely bafifled ; and the 
retreat of Antony was almost as disastrous as that of the army 
of Crassus. The Parthian power issued from these early con- 
tests with Rome intact ; each side held its own ; and it seemed 
as if the Euphrates was to be a permanent barrier which the 
Terminus of neither nation could cross. 

An uninteresting period of the Parthian history now sets in. 
Rome and Parthia abstain equally from direct attacks- upon 
each other, while each endeavors to obtain a predominant in- 
fluence in Armenia, which alternately leans on one or other 
of the two powers. Troubles are excited by the Romans within 
the Parthian royal family; and almost every reign exhibits 
one or more pretenders to the throne, who disturb and some- 
times expel the legitimate monarch. This period lasted 150 
years — from the retreat of Antony, B.C. 36, to the sixteenth 
year of Trajan, A.D. 114. 

Chosroes (Arsaces XXV.), on obtaining the crown,* pro- 
ceeded almost immediately to assert the authority of Parthia 
* About A.D. 107. 



486 RAWLINSON 

over Armenia by deposing the reigning monarch, Exedares, 
and placing his nephew, Parthamasiris, the son of Pacorus, 
upon the Armenian throne. This act furnished an excuse to 
Trajan for his Eastern expedition, a part of his great scheme 
of conquest. The earher operations of the Roman emperor 
were altogether successful; he deprived Parthamasiris of his 
kingdom, and made Armenia a Roman province without a 
struggle ; he rapidly overran Mesopotamia and Assyria, taking 
the cities one after another, and added those countries to the 
empire ; he pressed southward, took Seleuceia, Ctesiphon, and 
Babylon, descended the Tigris to the sea, and received the 
submission of Mesene, the tract upon the Persian Gulf. In 
another direction his arms penetrated as far as Susa. But it 
was easier to conquer than to hold. Revolts broke out in the 
countries already occupied, at Seleuceia, at Edessa, at Nisibis, 
at Hatra, and elsewhere. Trajan felt that he must retire. To 
cover the ignominy of his retreat, he held an assembly at Ctesi- 
phon, and placed his more southern conquests under the sov- 
ereignty of a mock king, a native named Parthamaspates. His 
other conquests, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, he main- 
tained and strongly garrisoned. But they continued Roman 
for only about two years (A.D. 115 to 117). The first act of 
Hadrian was to relinquish the whole results of the Parthian 
war of Trajan, and to withdraw the legions within the line of 
the Euphrates. Chosroes returned to his capital, Parthamas- 
pates quitting it and falling back on his Roman friends, who 
made him king of Armenia. The Parthian empire was re- 
stored to its old limits ; and friendly relations subsisted between 
Chosroes and Hadrian until the death of the former, probably 
about A.D. 121. 

The successor of Chosroes was his son, Vologeses H. (Ar- 
saces XXVI.), who reigned from about A.D. 121 to 149. He 
kept the peace with Rome throughout the whole of his reign, 
though sorely tempted to interfere with the affairs of Armenia, 
which had reverted to the position of a Roman fief. He was 
contemporary with Antoninus Pius. The only important event 
of his reign was an invasion of Media Atropatene by the Alani, 
who were becoming formidable in the tract between the Black 
Sea and the Caspian. Vologeses bribed these enemies to retire. 



ANCIENT HISTORY 487 

His successor was another Vologeses, the third of the name, 
who was probably his son. He reigned from about A.D. 149 
to 192. During the Hfetime of Antoninus Pius, he remained 
at peace with the Romans ; but soon after the accession of 
M. AureHus (B.C. 161) he provoked a war by invading Armenia 
for the purpose of severing its connection with Rome. At the 
outset he was successful; Armenia was occupied; Severianus, 
Roman prefect of Cappadocia, was defeated, his army de- 
stroyed, and he himself slain ; the Parthian hordes once more 
crosse'd the Euphrates, and carried devastation into Syria ; but 
their triumph was short-lived. Verus was sent to the East; 
and though individually he did nothing, yet his generals gained 
great advantages. The Parthians were driven from Syria and 
Armenia ; Mesopotamia was occupied ; Seleuceia, Ctesiphon, 
and Babylon taken ; and the royal palace at Ctesiphon burnt 
(A.D. 165). Parthia then sued for peace, and obtained it by 
ceding Mesopotamia, and allowing Armenia to return to the 
position of a Roman dependency. Vologeses, thus humbled, 
remained quiet during his later years, living on friendly terms 
with M. Aurelius and with Commodus. 

Vologeses HI. left two sons, Vologeses and Tiridates, of 
whom the elder, Vologeses, succeeded him. This prince, hav- 
ing unfortunately attached himself to the cause of Pescennius 
Niger, A.D. 193, was attacked by the Roman emperor, 
Septimius Severus, after he had defeated Niger, and suffered im- 
portant reverses. The Roman army advanced through Meso- 
potamia to the Tigris, crossed into Assyria, and occupied Adia- 
bene, descended the river in ships to Ctesiphon, which it took 
and plundered, captured also Seleuceia and Babylon, and re- 
turned without sufifering any worse defeat than a double repulse 
from the walls of Hatra. The only permanent fruit of the cam- 
paign was, however, the addition of Adiabene, or Northern 
Assyria, to the empire, which the Parthian monarch was forced 
to cede to his adversary, A.D. 199. Nothing more is known 
of Vologeses IV., excepting that he left several sons, and that 
he reigned till about A.D. 212 or 213. 

Upon the death of Vologeses IV., a contention arose be- 
tween his sons with respect to the succession, which seems 
to have fallen, after a short struggle, to another Vologeses, 



488 RAWLINSON 

who was king when Caracallus, wishing to pick a quarrel with 
Parthia, sent to demand the surrender of two refugees, Tiri- 
dates and Antiochus. Vologeses at first refused; but, when 
he was threatened with invasion, yielded, A.D. 215. Soon after 
this he must have ceased to reign, for we find Caracallus, in 
A.D. 216, negotiating with Artabanus. 

Artabanus (Arsaces XXX.), the last king of Parthia, is 
thought to have been a son of Vologeses IV. and a brother af 
Vologeses V. He reigned from A.D. 215 or 216 to 226. Cara- 
callus, bent on a Parthian campaign, in which he was to rival 
Alexander, sent, in A.D. 216, to demand the daughter of Arta- 
banus in marriage. Artabanus refused, and Caracallus imme- 
diately crossed the Euphrates, took possession of Osrhoene, 
proceeded through Mesopotamia to the Tigris, invaded Adia- 
bene, took Arbela, and drove the Parthians into the movmtains. 
He then returned to Edessa in Osrhoene, and was proceeding 
in the year following to renew his attack, when he was murdered 
by order of Macrinus, his pr^torian prefect. Macrinus then 
carried on the war for a short time, but, being twice defeated 
by Artabanus near Nisibis, he was content to purchase peace 
by the expenditure of a large sum of money and the surrender 
of all the Roman possessions beyond the Euphrates. The 
dominions of the Parthians were thus once more extended to 
their ancient limits, and Artabanus had even reclaimed and 
exercised the old Parthian suzerainty over Armenia, by 
appointing his own brother to be king, when suddenly an insur- 
rection broke out in the south. The Persians, under Arta- 
xerxes, the son of Sassan, rebelled, after four centuries of sub- 
jection, against their Parthian lords, defeated the forces of 
Artabanus in three great battles, and in the third slew that 
king himself. The Parthian empire came thus suddenly to an 
end, A.D. 226, when it had given few signs of internal decay 
or weakness. It was succeeded by the New Persian Monarchy, 
or Kingdom of the Sassanidae, which lasted from A.D. 226 
to 652. 



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